Shikigami
by Elvirus
Summary: Kagome accidentally creates four shikigami, identical to her in every way. Physically, anyway. Mentally, they're way, way off.
1. Default Chapter

Reposting-- a friend mocked my original title unmercifully. This one will have to do. Futher bulletins as events warrant.

Disclaimer: disclaimed

The Trouble with Shikigami

The predator silently crept closer; yellow eyes focused on his prey. From a distance came the muffled sound of water and thin, querulous voices arguing over dinner. However, the kneeling girl in front of him never stirred, her eyes closed, her hands clasped at eye level, a scrap of paper hanging rather desperately between her palms. His prey was completely unprotected. An ear flicked.

He pounced. Or, rather, flopped.

"Buyo!" Kagome wailed. "I'm trying to concentrate here!" Absently she stroked the cat with one hand while she raised the now shredded scrap out of his reach. She sighed. She'd never get the hang of it--

"Sis!" Her door flung open, impaling itself on an already abused doorstop. Souta, in blue jeans slightly too short and a blue shirt slightly too long, pointed the business end of his index finger at her, and declared triumphantly, "It's _your_ turn to do dishes!" From the satisfaction in his tone, Kagome knew she'd just been the unwitting beneficiary of a discussion downstairs.

Kagome flounced back on her heels, slapping her palms behind her. Buyo yowled as he slid off her knee. Shooting her brother a glare from under her bangs, she hid a smile. "Who said, _little _brother? I did them--" she trailed off. When _had_ she last washed dishes? In a dishwasher, anyway?

"Ha! And anyway, it was decided by committee. We had a vote and everything. You didn't object." He looked too smug for his own good. Stupid civics classes. She'd suffered more than once from his sudden interest in the machinations of democracy, and she knew she hadn't heard the end of it yet. Ah, the good old days of third grade. Oh well, at this rate he'd have a scholarship to a decent university. At least one Higurashi would.

She sighed again and rose to her feet, surrounded briefly by a snowfall of paper chads. Souta gave what sounded suspiciously like a satisfied 'keh." As he turned to leave, he tossed over his shoulder, "And Mom better not catch you making paper dolls again, sis. _Some _of us think homework is important."

"You know, you may be taller, but I can still show you who's boss!" But Souta had already thumped importantly down the stairs. _Thump thump thump thump-- _The thumping hesitated, and Kagome heard a _thunk_ as Souta jumped the last five steps. She smiled absently-- he'd managed it, this time. Last time there had been a bloody nose. And the time before that a bruised chin. But he was growing up and getting stronger.

Unfortunately, she wasn't.

Kagome stopped herself in mid-sigh as she looked around her scrap-filled room. She was surrounded by failure in the form of wood pulp. Dropping her shoulders, she closed her eyes for a moment to mourn the passing of her aspirations. If you didn't have the talent, she supposed, then no use fighting it. She might as well move on to something more productive. Like barriers, or algebra. She was running out of white paper anyway.

Then again, she always had the paper in her algebra notebook. She grinned as she dug the battered spiral-bound paper from her backpack. _If at first you don't succeed..._

She'd do the dishes in a minute-- she wanted to try one more time. Buyo, sensing trouble whenever the girl had that slightly manic look, wisely decided to follow Souta to the kitchen.

* * *

Kagome tried five more times before giving up for the evening. She rose from her aching knees and stretched mightily. Hands on hips, she looked down at the paper dolls before her. At least her paper doll skills were getting better. Although that wouldn't look good on a resume, though--_ time-traveling college student with paper folding experience seeks internship. _Nope. She'd better get to work on her algebra. 

"KaGOME!"

After the dishes.

As she entered the kitchen a few moments later Kagome knew the three people at the table had been discussing her. The slightly embarrassed silence was unmistakable-- she'd been on both ends of said silence too often not to notice. She smiled in determined cheerfulness and proceeded to the sink-- least said, soonest mended, after all.. Three plates, two glasses and one long silence later Kagome very carefully placed her soapy hands on the rim of the sink, bowed her head, and through gritted teeth snarled, "WHAT!?"

Grandpa quickly grabbed the newspaper, snapped it to arm's length, and began to read intently. Souta looked down with a defensive tilt to his mouth at his civics book. Her mother didn't even flinch. _Ah, another in-depth conversation about my innermost feelings and dreams. Hojo must have called again._

"Hojo called again, sweetie."

Kagome snorted.

"We're all just concerned. I know you don't like him as well as... other people, but--"

"When," Souta began, in a condescending tone, "are you going to tell Hojo?"

"Tell him what?" She glared morosely at a soap bubble. It popped.

"That you don't like him as well as _other people_."

"And, Souta, just who are these _other people?_" Her voice was unnervingly calm. The countertop creaked under Kagome's hands.

"Souta, dear," her mother said, interrupting what could very well have been an extremely interesting discussion between her children, "why don't you go play Halo?"

"But _Mo-om_, I need to study! Just 'cause Kagome is okay with a state college doesn't mean--"

"Now." Souta shuffled away from the table, flipping his hair the way only teenagers could.. The last thing she heard him mutter involved 'hanyou' and 'brother.'

Kagome knew her mother didn't want her sweet daughter making any rash declarations about whom she did and didn't like while throttling her youngest. It was unnerving how easily they read each other. Oh well. At least Souta was gone. Unfortunately that left--

"Kagome, you know you're my favorite granddaughter--"

She smiled.

"--my _only_ granddaughter--"

The smile disappeared.

"--and I just want what's best for you--"

Kagome resumed washing the last of the dishes. This conversation could take a while.

"--but we really must know what's going on in that head of yours. You know it concerns all of us when you're down the well and with that boy--"

"His name is Inuyasha." She set down a pot with more force than strictly necessary. "And he's just a friend!" The unsuspecting dish towel was twisted unmercifully as Kagome dried her hands.

"Yeah, right!" came a disembodied, teenaged voice. Kagome threw down the towel and turned purposefully towards the front room. "Time to take out the trash!"

Her mother raised her hands soothingly, stopping the irate young woman in her tracks. Gesturing to the table, she waited until her daughter seated herself in Souta's vacated chair. "Kagome, you know we _all_ like Inuyasha--"

"Yeah, right!" came the voice again, only without the sarcasm. Kagome remembered once when Souta had filed all his fingernails into points, running around yelling 'Sankon Tessou!' at Buyo. Her mother had encouraged it.

"--but you really can't keep stringing him _or_ Hojo along like this. Make up your mind, or someday someone will make it up for you." Her mother's hands were folded on the table with an air of finality. Her whole family was in on this-- intervention. She wondered if they had a twelve-step program as well. _How to Love a Hanyou in Twelve Easy Steps. _This was worse than Souta's first crush, when the family had rallied behind him, forcing him to make a move. _That_ had been puppy love, _this_ was-

Well, technically it could be called puppy love too.

Kagome idly picked up Souta's pencil and began filling in the essays on his worksheet. _Describe the process of a bill becoming law. _Well, that was obvious. So Kagome promptly wrote, _I like vanilla._

She glanced at her mother, then at her grandfather. Both were watching her intently, one straightforward, the other from behind the sports section. Her grandfather hated sports.

"Please put the paper down, Grandpa. You're not fooling anybody." As her grandfather complied, she turned back to her mother. "And what do you mean, someone may make my mind up for me? Is there something you know about Hojo? Is he seeing someone?" She certainly hoped so.

"Sweetie, this isn't about Hojo or Inuyasha. It's about you." Her mother was silent for a moment. _Define the role of the Emperor in modern government. _Kagome wrote, _I stink like cheese._ "Kagome, how are your friends? Have you seen them lately?"

Kagome looked her mother in the eye at the abrupt conversational shift. She narrowed her own eyes slightly. "Nooo-- Eri is away at university, and the other two are engaged." Kagome smiled beatifically. "Imagine, in June I'll be a bridesmaid _twice_!"

"But never a bride!" came the voice again. Kagome scowled and began dotting all the _i_s with cute little hearts.

"Kagome, Souta isn't too far off--" At Kagome's shocked expression, she patted her daughter's arm. "I have no doubt that someday you'll be a bride, _and _graduate from college, but honey, your friends are moving on with their lives. They're making decisions about who they are and where they want to be in the future." Gripping her daughter's hand, she looked steadily at her little girl. "Sweetie, you're still living in the past."

Kagome withdrew her hand from her mother's grip, folded her arms, and huffed back in her chair. "It's not like I have a choice! I mean, we've got _one_ shard, and Naraku has the rest, and we know he's gonna make a move soon-- in fact, I should be packing--"

"That's not what I'm talking about. You're still living in _your_ past, Kagome. We're all pretty sure how you feel about Inuyasha. But you don't seem to be _doing _much about it."

Kagome stared at her mother, who had seemed so rational five minutes ago. Lacing her fingers together, she leaned forward on the table, hiding behind her bangs.

In a small voice, she began, "I _do_ like Inuyasha..."

"Ka-gome n' Inuya-sha sitting in the god tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g--"

In a fit of maturity Kagome blatantly ignored her little brother. "But I'm not-- well, _capable_ enough for him. He likes me okay, but he doesn't _respect_ me, you know? He's always having to rescue me, and getting upset when I can't do something or _do _do something but do it wrong. Sango is an amazing fighter, Miroku is a powerful priest, but me? I just stand around, scream occasionally, shoot an arrow or two. The only thing I could do really well was find shards, and there _are_ no more shards."

"Don't you think he might like you for who you are, not for what you can do?"

Kagome lowered her head the last few inches to the cool wood of the table. "But that's just it. He does like me. He just doesn't respect me."

Kagome felt a hand on her hair. "I think I understand. Is that what all the paper is for? Are you trying to improve yourself? To earn respect?"

Kagome nodded into her elbow. "Yep."

There was a slap. Kagome jerked upright, nearly toppling her chair. Her grandfather stood at the end of the table, both hands flat on his forgotten newspaper.

"That's where all the paper went to! You've been practicing making ofuda!" He slapped the table again, for emphasis. "I always knew you had it in you!"

"Sorry, grandpa." Kagome winced and held up her hands apologetically. "I'm trying to create shikigami." Her grandfather deflated, reminding Kagome of an inverse Myoga. "I don't have anything against ofuda. Um, they really seem great, but I don't think I have the-- er, skill to tackle those yet."

"Shikigami," he muttered again. "Where did I go wrong?" Then, with a glare at his favorite and only granddaughter, "Do you know what those things can do? And what do you want 'em for, anyway? What do you need a familiar for?"

"Nothing, grandpa!" Her hands gripped his, urging him to his seat. "Really! I'm just trying what I know she can do."

"Who's 'she'?" Her mother was uncomfortably quick. Kagome released her grandfather's hands and turned to innocently meet her mother's eyes.

"Um, nobody, really, just another miko."

"Kikyo?"

"Yeah." Kagome buried her head into her elbow again. However, she did it too quickly and managed to give the table a solid thump with her forehead. "Owwww..."

"I think," her mother said, as Kagome sat back up and rubbed, "that you deserved that. Maybe it will knock some sense into you."

"I agree." Her grandfather concurred.

"Yeah, right!" a youthful voice chimed. Kagome picked up the pencil again and very carefully began misspelling words. Starting with _Soda Higurashy_.

* * *

In Kagome's room, a paper doll fluttered as a draft scuttled across the floor. It flipped up into the air, performed a graceful somersault, and swayed gently to the floor. For a moment it rested, unmoving. Suddenly it thrashed as if caught in a gale. It curled and twisted. Some unseen power flung it into the air in the center of the room, where it began spinning, faster and faster like a deranged top, before breaking away to a wall, hitting with a whisper. It was dragged, headfirst, into a counterclockwise path, just inches from the plaster, and whirled violently about the room. 

It pulsed.

The paper shuddered as it cut through the air, and strained against itself. It should have torn. Instead it expanded. Abruptly veering from it's path, it made a beeline for Kagome's bed and impacted with surprising force. At that instant a small puff of pink light surrounded the abused scrap, and when the light faded a black-haired girl in an obsolete green school uniform lay peacefully snoring.

On the floor, another paper doll twitched.

* * *

Kagome trudged wearily up the stairs. The Intervention had continued for another twenty minutes, and all they had resolved was: Yes, Kagome liked Inuyasha. No, she didn't like Hojo. Yes, she should cut Hojo off. No, she hadn't eaten the last of the baklava. Yes, she could be just as strong as Kikyo, but in different ways. Different ways, indeed! What, could they defeat Naraku with the quadratic formula? _Oh, another incarnation? Bah! 'X' equals negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four ac over two a! Take that! _Her mother-- arrgh! And her grandfather-- arrgh arrgh! And Souta-- he deserved much more than an arrgh. Why couldn't they see? She just wasn't right for Inuyasha. He needed someone who was stronger. Like-- well-- _Sorry Mom, but like Kikyo. _Kagome reached dejectedly for her doorknob and paused, furrowing her brow, as her feet crunched. She looked down. A draft from her room had kicked hundreds of white paper slivers from under her door, littering the hall. Little pieces clung lovingly to her socks. Mumbling words that were quite surprised to be coming from her mouth, she tapped her toes to dislodge the worst of it, backed away from her door and started down the stairs for the kitchen broom. 

That's when she heard the thump.

Kagome froze. It sounded like someone had flung open her window. Perhaps a white-haired someone whose triangle ears had been burning for the past half-hour. Slinking back to her door, she placed her ear against the smooth paint. If Inuyasha saw her shocking display of impotence scattered like an origami crane massacre-- but there was no sound. Not a muttered curse, not a shuffle, not a sniff.

She carefully placed her hand on the doorknob. And turned.

Another thump sent her leaping back to the middle of the hall. Oh, yes, there was definitely someone in her room. _Her_ room!

She scowled, straightened her spine, and flung open her door.

The curtains from her open window fluttered merrily at her. Other than that, the room was still and empty. Scraps of paper covered nearly every horizontal surface and most of the vertical ones, twinkling in the evening autumn light. Rushing over to the window, Kagome nearly threw herself out, looking towards the well house. Nothing. Not a scrap of paper on the rooftop, either. No one, not even Inuyasha, could get out of her room paperless tonight.

She flopped onto her bed, her hand absently drifting over the lingering warmth of her duvet.

Must've left the window open. And Souta, clutching his abused homework, had retreated to his room midway through the Intervention. He must be lifting weights again. She rolled off the bed, shook the paper from her hair, and went to get the broom.


	2. Chapter two

If I don't get this out now, then I never will-- hopefully the next chapter, where we get into the fun stuff, will be quicker. And longer.

Disclaimer: disclaimed.

* * *

Inuyasha sat on the edge of the well. He was, as usual, looking down into the darkening pit with one leg propped up on the lip. The setting sun lightly frosted the surrounding forest with gold, gilding trees and turning the long grass gossamer. As his soft red haori absorbed the heat, a crisp breeze wafted by. Angled rays bathed his hair and warmed his shoulders. His ears, illuminated from behind, glowed pink against the lavender sky as he cocked his head. 

The evening was incomparably lovely. It was also entirely lost on Inuyasha. Instead, his attention kept drifting inexorably to thoughts about a certain black-haired girl, despite his best intentions.

Kagome wasn't there. _But she should be. She should be right here, helping me._

It wasn't like they needed her, exactly. But still, she should be here. It just wasn't _right_ if she wasn't.

Inyasha's Y chromosome kept him from delving deeper into this concept, but his behind knew better and was firmly planted on the lip of the well and had been since early afternoon. His head and his heart had gone three rounds and decided to take a few days off.

His thoughts, as they were, were interrupted by that certain tingling suddenly wrapped around his spine. Something was using power, and nearby, too. Frowning down at the well, he was puzzled by the small rush of power he felt. It didn't feel _right_ for this stupid hole in the ground. And Kagome wasn't coming until tomorrow morning. Late morning, probably. Just when they'd gotten a good lead, too. So why was he sitting here?

Again his Y chromosome snapped certain synapses open in Inuyasha's brain, derailing that train of thought. He glanced, frustrated, at the dimming light, and then glared down the well one last time.

Kagome squealed up at him, eyes wide. He started, and crossed his arms defensively. "'Bout time." Nobody got the jump on ol' Inuyasha. He had known she was coming the whole time. Pointing at something on his head, she smiled incandescently. Pink ears. Inuyasha couldn't help but to grin back. "Well, c'mon up."

As he helped her over the lip of the well, his stomach noticed another odd occurence. "Where's your bag?" _And the ramen therein?_ "And your bow?"

She simply shrugged at him, still staring at his ears, and stood up on the rim with her arms hanging loosely at her sides. He tried very hard not to notice he was nose-to-thigh with the unwitting object of his interest. An early firefly twinkled briefly above the grass, and she shreiked, pointed, and then was off after it.

"Kagome!" No response. She was spinning in a circle, trying to spot the flash of light. Then she darted into the forest with another delighted squeal. _The little idiot sounds like a pig at a porcupine festival_. "KaGOME! We don't have time for this!" He heard a giggle somewhere to the left. Muttering words his mother would disapprove of, he started after her.

* * *

It took Inuyasha the better part of the evening to herd Kagome into Kaede's village. He was confused, not an unusual condition for him, but certainly an unwelcome one. Kagome was not herself. Not that she didn't have her moments, but this was too strange, even for her. For one thing, she was darting off after some night-blooming flower or unfortunate animal every five minutes. Once she had hugged a particularly short and fuzzy tree. And those girly noises! They stung his ears, not to mention the headache he had just from keeping track of her, by scent, sight, and especially sound, in the twilight. He certainly didn't want to be around for the guaranteed squealing when she saw Shippo. 

Something _had_ to be wrong. He glanced sideways at her, not an easy trick considering he was looking almost directly away from her as he walked, nose tilted up and hands tucked into his sleeves. She had tired herself out, and was now sticking to the trail, thankfully. She looked normal enough. But she hadn't really _said_ anything to him. For someone as talkative as Kagome, that was beyond strange. As she walked-- and skipped-- next to him, pointing and sighing to the emerging stars, he gave a surreptitious sniff. She smelled like Kagome, nothing more. Well, that was the extent of his skills in this area. He scowled. He'd better ask Kaede if she noticed anything.

As they entered the village outskirts, Shippo scented them and darted from under the flap to Kaede's hut, shouting a bright, "Kagome!" Sango lifted the hanging leather more sedately, but with curiosity in her eyes. Kagome threatened to collapse in a delighted heap on top of the kitsune, but Inuyasha ignored the kit dancing around a squealing Kagome's feet and grabbed the girl's hand to keep her moving. Rapidly dragging Kagome past a half-articulate Sango, who Kagome had attempted to hug, and past Miroku, who attempted to hug Kagome, a very frayed hanyou stormed into the hut. He plopped her down in front of Kaede.

"Fix her."

Kaede, sitting as composed as always on the opposite side of the fire, looked up at the still standing Inuyasha. Flushing slightly, he folded his hands inside his sleeves and lowered himself on one leg into a lotus position. The old hag could reprimand with just one eye. How did she _do_ that?

Kaede returned to stirring whatever was in the pot over the flames. Smelled like radishes. Where _was_ that bag-- and the ramen? Behind him, he heard Miroku and Sango settle themselves into their customary defensive positions between the door and the fire, not quite facing either one. Or each other. _Feh_.

"What, pray tell, is wrong with our Kagome?" Kaede didn't bother looking up from her radishes.

"_Look_ at her!"

Kaede complied. Kagome stared back at Kaede with clear, if empty, eyes. "I see nothing amiss."

He heard Sango shift. "Why is she wearing her old clothes?"

"Huh?" How had he missed _that_? Inuyasha looked Kagome over. "What're ya wearing _that_ for?"

She looked at him. Then she looked down at her green skirt, fingering a pleat. She picked up one shoe and stared curiously at the brown sole. Then she looked back at Inuyasha. "Mmmm?"

Taking advantage of the hanyou's distraction, Shippo made an impressive horizontal leap across Inuyasha and into Kagome's arms. Snuffling up under her chin, he queried, "Yeah, Kagome, I thought you graduated."

She smiled innocently and nodded.

Inuyasha glared at Kaede and flung one arm at the girl. "You see?!"

Kaede rolled her eye at the hanyou, rose with a soft grunt and walked around the fire, while Kagome made little cooing noises to the kitsune. The kit was eating it up. Inuyasha ground his teeth., but showed rare restraint. As Kaede knelt next to the girl, Miroku came up beside Inuyasha. "What, exactly, has she been doing?"

"That!" Kagome was giggling at Kaede and poked timidly at the eyepatch. Kaede intercepted the small hand and folded it between her own.

"She does seem a bit... distracted." Miroku kept his voice low in deference to the concentrating miko, but moved closer to the trio as he tried to get a better look. Sango scooted closer to the group as well, leaning in. She'd better be careful, Inuyasha thought, or she was going to tempt the monk. Or was that the idea? One never knew with Sango. She was deep. Kirara, he'd noticed, had made herself scarce ever since the first squeal.

Shippo looked at the four from his hideout under Kagome's chin. "She sure is acting funny. She almost never does that baby cooing thing anymore, not since I've grown up." Inuyasha snorted.

Kaede released the girl's hand, which dove straight back to Shippo. As she made her way back to her cushion by the fire she said, "I sense nothing wrong with the girl. She may yet be overtired. Perhaps a night's sleep will restore her." Inuyasha noticed the old woman grunt as she settled herself. Her joints were bothering her again.

His ear twitched as he heard a kiss-- a kiss that started off with 'mmmmmm-wha' and ended with a soft lip smack.

Somebody was going to get something smacked besides their lips. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and glanced from Kaede to the others. Just because Sango had agreed to bear his children didn't mean--

But it was Shippo, not Sango, who looked stunned-- one small paw rubbing his cheek. The cheek that Kagome had planted one on. Inuyasha stared at the kit. Kagome, as far as he could remember, had never kissed Shippo. Never kissed anyone, really. Except him, and that hadn't really counted. Really.

Someone was growling, softly, and Inuyasha was surprised to realize it was him. He stopped.

Punched. Caressed. Tweaked. Kicked. Hugged. Poked. But not kissed.

Sango, ever watchful, glanced appraisingly from Inuyasha to the errant Kagome, who had practially rolled up in a ball around the now-glowing kit. A calculating gleam came into the slayer's eyes. She quickly took the uncertainty of their situation, added the stress the hanyou was under, multiplied by Kagome's odd behaviour, and disregarded common sense. Then she took a long draw on the air and said, "Maybe she's in love."

Inuyasha turned on her so quickly that Miroku's staff twitched. "What'd you say?"

Miroku intervened smoothly, rings jingling. "I'm sure she's just tired and distracted from her higher schooling. Or perhaps she's doing it to annoy you." As the hanyou looked back at the odd girl, a very loud look was exchanged between the two humans. _Things, _the look said, _will be discussed later._

"Feh. Never mind. Those tests must've broke something in her head." He tapped her skull softly. She simply smiled up at him, eyes frightenengly vacant. Something, Inuyasha thought, was definitely wrong here. _ But if old grandma said to wait until morning, well... _

"I still don't see why she wore these clothes," Shippo had just enough breath to squeak. Inuyasha couldn't see his eyes, not with Kagome wrapped so tightly around the kit. A faint scent of desperation was beginning to trace through the air. Inuyasha grinned, and felt his shoulders unwind a bit. At the rate the girl was going, Inuyasha'd have a nice fox-fur hakama by morning.

"Old habits die hard, my friend," Miroku said, with a certain air of sage purity. "Let us be thankful Kagome returned early, and take advantage of this opport--"

Miroku was interrupted by the sound of his own face meeting solid flesh. Kagome, Kaede, and Inuyahsa all jumped at the noise. Sango, hand still raised from a smooth backswing, had her eyes downcast demurely. "Some habits die harder than others, apparently," she muttered. Miroku tucked his lecherous hand back into his opposing sleeve and sighed, eyes closed.

Sango gave an unladylike snort, rose with a decidedly ladylike huff, and retired to her sleeping mat.

* * *

Kagome woke, tired. Without opening her eyes, she stretched, rolled, and ground her face harder into her pillow. The harsh cotton was nothing like Inuyasha's haori. Inuyasha smelled better, too. Not like pseudo-April-fresh dryer sheets. More like sunrise. And pines-- maybe all that tree-sitting had loaded his haori with sap. Not that she was comparing, though. Or fantasizing. She groaned, and wearily propped herself up. She felt drained, light-headed. So she did the only sensible thing to do, and flopped her head back on the pillow, hair trailing a half-beat later. She was asleep within seconds. The morning light was growing stale.

* * *

They travelled from first light, following the lead Inuyasha had gleaned from Myouga only days earlier. The flea, of course, had disappeared the moment Inuyasha had squeezed the information from the tiny demon. And he hadn't really squeezed that hard. _Coward._ Myouga never had enjoyed fighting. Inuyasha didn't know what was wrong with the blood-sucker. 

Kagome, though, was no better than she had been last night. Whatever was affecting her, it was scary enough that Shippo had popped into a pink balloon and floated away. Kagome had run after him, giggling and skipping, until he was out of sight. Then, for a change of pace, she skipped and giggled.

That's all she ever did.

Inuyasha was _seriously_ worried.

After travelling through the morning and into the early afternoon, they stopped to eat cold rice, dried fish, and boiled, crushed soybeans. The soybeans were supposed to be the _good_ part of lunch. Inuyasha would never understand the odd cooking humans had. Except for rice. And ramen. _Where _was_ that bag? _Inuyasha had foregone any food in favor of sulking off to one side, back to his companions, ear twitching at every squeal and giggle.

She had even eaten the soybeans. And hadn't complained.

After lunch, back on the road, Inuyasha had finally decided Kagome wasn't going to improve as Kaede had hoped. He slowed his pace until he was walking abreast of Miroku and just ahead of Sango. Kagome was walking behind Sango, staring into the bone boomerang at her own reflection. And making faces.

"So what's wrong with her?" he snapped to his companions

"Shush, Inuyasha," Sango said in a low voice, looking askance at the oblivious Kagome. "She'll hear you."

"She doesn't _care._ Watch." Inuyasha pushed in front of Kagome, pointed a talon, and shouted, "YOUR HAIR LOOKS LIKE A RAT'S NEST AND YOU SMELL EVEN WORSE." The venom in his voice vibrated among the surrounding trees, shook the undergrowth, and rattled the rocks.

Kagome giggled.

Inuyasha shrugged, irritated, and resumed walking. "You see? She didn't even blink. That was a two-sitter, at least. She just doesn't _care!_" Kagome caught sight of a butterfly ahead, in an open meadow layered with amber grasses. She ran after it. Inuyasha sighed. _At least she's going in the right direction._

"If this were simply a spell, surely Kaede or I would have sensed it," Miroku said, slowly, staff slanting across one shoulder. "There is something else here. Kaede sensed a certain darkness to the air this morning."

"But not last night, " Sango pointed out. Miroku nodded, brows furrowed.

"True. However, we were distracted--"

"_Like you are now!?"_ Shippo expolded from the trees to Inuyasha's left and tore through the group, heading toward the grassy clearing. "_Kagome! _RUN!"

Back in the trees, something roared. The torturous creak and groan of old-growth wood being bent until it snapped drifted over the golden meadow.

_Downwind, _Inuyasha thought. _I didn't smell it. _ He had already leapt towards the meadow, claws tensed, teeth bared.

Miroku and Sango had already gone after Kagome as well, who had turned at the sound of Shippo's voice. She opened her arms to the kitsune with a wide smile. Something rose behind her, half the height of the trees. It was black, or grey, or brown. Inuyasha never quite saw it. His eyes were on Kagome. He lunged toward her. _Stupid girl. She won't even skip away from--_

Something thick and rope-like lashed out from the safety of the trees. It tore Kagome in half.

Miroku and Sango lurched to a halt, both with their weapons held in front as if to protect them from what they were witnessing. Still smiling, half of Kagome dropped to the ground in front of Shippo.

Shippo screamed.


	3. Chapter three

Alrighty, chapter three of maybe ten. By the way, I like the manga, so beware spoilers of happenings, shenanigans, and goings-on that did not appear in the anime. Caveat emptor. And sometimes I like to alter things to suit me. So if you don't like something, remember, it may just be me making stuff up. Go ahead and believe that if it makes you feel better.

* * *

Shippo was still screaming. The rope appendage, snaking around from the swing that had torn Kagome in half, snapped through the air where the kitsune's head had been a moment ago. Inuyasha, with the traumatized kit tucked into his arms, leapt two-thirds up a tree, dropped the now-silent Shippo, and launched himself back towards Kagome's body. 

Except the body wasn't there.

Crouching where he'd last seen her, Inuyasha stretched his talons, cracking joints. He bared his fangs and snarled into the underbrush.

Something snarled back. Inuyasha grinned.

The incarnation in the undergrowth thrashed forward, rising up above the trees. The stench washed over the hanyou, and he lay his ears flat against his scalp. It was nothing he had ever seen before. It pulsed, cord-like veins throbbing. There were eyes, and mouths covered in pustules. No head. He tensed, digging in his feet, raising his sword, readying himself for attack.

From a distance, Inuyasha heard, "Is that Kagome's bag?"

At that moment, two things happened simultaneously. One, Kagome barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his chest and burying her head under his neck. Two, Kagome ran in front of the bubbling mess, planted her feet, and launched an incandescent arrow straight into the undulating center. The creature gave a high scream like a burnt child. Then it blew into ash from the inside out.

Kagome, still standing with her bow, turned to him with a blinding grin. She gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Kagome, still gripping him tightly, tilted back her head to see his eyes. She gave him a squeeze and buried her head again.

Inuyasha, mind still fuzzy, simply took advantage of a good thing. Still holding Tetsusaiga, he wrapped his arms around Kagome and closed his eyes. Her hair smelled like oranges.

* * *

Kagome frantically shoved her way through the underbrush, cursing as her green skirt caught on deadwood, yet again. She had been on the verge of catching up to the group-- she had heard Inuyasha shouting something about rats-- when the reek of old blood had hit her, a split second before a deafening roar. Kagome's ears still rung from when she had slapped her palms over them, eyes scrunched shut, but she had still felt the rumbling in her breastbone. Then she had heard Shippo screaming. He had stopped, abruptly. 

_My bow. Where is my bow? _

She burst from the foliage, her eyes instinctively swiveling towards her friends. Kirara was already in the air. Miroku and Sango were poised for action, two dark figures against the autumn-bright meadow. All were focused on the other end of the clearing. A snarl ripped it's way through the warm air, and Kagome snapped her head around to find her hanyou, Tetsusaiga blazing, ready to launch himself at a nightmare. She stepped forward, hand raised, not quite knowing what to do but knowing she had to do _something-- _

Then she saw herself run into the clearing and throw herself at Inuyasha. And she saw herself purify the demon.

At that point, her mind went from fifth gear to full reverse. Her mental transmission seized, and her thoughts slammed straight into oncoming traffic.

Distantly, she watched Kagome-with-a-bow give a smile and a jaunty thumbs-up to Kagome-around-Inuyasha. Then Kagome-with-a-bow jogged over to the base of a tall, sparse pine, looked up, and called Shippo's name. Kagome-around-Inuyasha was still snuggled under the hanyou's chin, and he was holding her so tightly his sleeves overlapped.

Kagome jumped when a hand gripped her shoulder. She turned to stare into gray-blue eyes. Familiar, amused eyes that were dancing at her. A little odd, but very familiar. And very amused.

"About time you got here," Kagome said to Kagome.

Kagome shrieked.

"Shush." The amused Kagome glanced over at the group in the meadow. "They'll hear you. C'mon." Kagome felt a hand wrap gently around her wrist, propelling her forward, pulling her toward Kagome-with-a-bow. The bewildered girl looked over at Kagome-around-Inuyasha. He was holding her so tightly--

Her thoughts pulled slowly off the shoulder and back into traffic. The shikigami.

She was torn between incredible elation and absolute horror. _I did it! Boy, have I done it now._ How had they gotten here? Why did they all look like her-- in her old uniform, no less? What had they said? What had they _done_? And why was Inuyasha _still holding her? _And why couldn't it be _her?_

As they approached the tree, she noticed Kagome-with-a-bow still calling to a very doubtful Shippo. Miroku and Sango, with Kirara between them, were standing in the center of the field, looking from Inuyasha, to her group near the pine, to Inuyasha again. Then they looked at each other.

The amused Kagome released her wrist and tapped Kagome-with-a-bow on the shoulder. "We need to talk."

"Huh? Oh, sure. Hey, you made it!" Kagome found herself wrapped in a hug. "I'm so glad to see you! Hope you didn't have too rough a morning." The amused Kagome, who was rapidly shifting to an impatient one, grabbed both girls by the wrists and, with two Kagomes in tow, started towards Inuyasha. Shippo, left behind in the tree, managed a weakly indignant, "Hey!"

As they approached Kagome-around-Inuyasha and Inuyasha himself, Kagome found herself digging her heels into the soft ground of the clearing. She really didn't want to intrude. Well, technically she wasn't intruding, but still...

Once-amused-Kagome felt her resistance and stopped. She turned on Kagome with exasperation. "Look. I know you have a hard time facing up to your emotions, but we _really_ need to talk, and you're not helping."

Kagome, stung, reacted automatically to the attack. "What?! I have no idea what you're talking about."

Kagome-with-a-bow smiled at her. "You're really funny. We _know_ how you feel, but you shouldn't let your feelings get in the way."

_What in the world did that mean? _Kagome looked at the two with confusion.

Once-amused-Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ignore her. She often speaks without thinking first. She's impulsive."

The young woman grinned at her. "But you can call me Imp."

The other shikigami sighed again and turned towards the embracing couple. Waiting a moment to be noticed, she tapped her foot. When that received no response, she cleared her throat. After a full minute, she bypassed a polite 'excuse me' to go straight to a loud, "_Hey!_ Get a room!"

Inuyasha jumped as if he'd just sat on Sesshomaru's armor. Releasing the third shikigami with almost offensive speed, he whirled around and defended, "We weren't doin' nothin'--"

"Well, you _should_ have been," the once-amused Kagome snapped. Inuyasha opened and closed his mouth at her. Then he did the same to Imp, and again to Kagome, throwing in a weakly pointing talon for good measure. Tetsusaiga abrubtly deteriorated into the familiar rusty blade.

The third shikigami, looking a little bereft once released from Inuyasha's embrace, scowled at them. "You had to go and ruin a perfectly romantic moment, didn't you?"

"Yes." Once-amused Kagome eyed the hanyou speculatively. "He's so hot, even when he's acting stupid. And you just stood there and never even felt up his--"

"Hey, I thought you said we needed to talk," Imp broke in. Kagome thanked her silently.

However, the earthy shikigami was not so easily distracted. "-- ears." She looked over at Imp. "What did you think I was-- oh, I know what _you_ were thinking. Shame on you."

The third shikigami huffed, "Right. We all know what _you_ were thinking, and it certainly wasn't anything above the belt, so to speak."

The embarrassing discussion was cut short by a squeak. The four Kagomes looked around and noticed the hanyou, still staring, arm outstretched as if for protection. Imp shook her head. "Don't mind us, Inuyasha." He didn't move. Kagome wondered if he was permanently scarred. She certainly was.

The third shikigami, the one he had held so tightly, smiled at Inuyasha with affection and a dash of pity. "You'd better go before _she_ decides to do a full-body exam."

Once-amused Kagome sucked in her breath. "I never thought of that." She whirled on Inuyasha. "You could be injured. Maybe you'd better take off your haori."

"Don't you _dare_ take advantage--"

Imp broke in again, reaching toward the frozen male to pat him on the arm. "I think they need your help with Shippo," she suggested pointedly. Either the words or the action released him, and Inuyasha scrambled madly across the meadow, half-falling in his haste. He darted behind Miroku and Sango, who were trying to talk the kitsune out of the tree. Kagome, shock slowly dissipating, managed to dredge up faint indignation. He certainly was in a hurry to leave the woman he had been so recently embracing. Which was she. Kind of.

The third shikigami turned to Kagome, and in an abrupt shift of mood, stated brightly, "Hi. Glad you're finally here." Glancing at the group under the pine, she continued in a lower voice, "You can call me Love."

The once-amused shikigami snorted.

Imp laughed, lightly. "And she, as if you haven't guessed, is Lust."

Kagome, her mind up to speed, announced firmly, "We need to talk."

* * *

Miroku and Sango peered into the treetop. 

"Shippo, it's all right! The demon is gone," Sango called reassuringly.

"No way!" came the immediate response.

Miroku sighed. "Well, at least he's coherent now." A tail was visible, and a flash of blue. "Do you think Kirara--"

"No," Sango said firmly. "He's scared enough already. And you know he'd just go right back up again."

"True."

They stared up in companionable silence.

That is, until Inuyasha grabbed the two of them, flung their startled bodies between himself and the clearing, and peered out between their shoulders.

"Inuyasha, wha--"

He turned to the monk. "Do you know what she said?! What she wanted to _do_ to me?!"

To his credit, Miroku's mouth never twitched. "Yes, we heard it. And it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do to you as much as _with_ you--"

"Houshi-sama!" Sango looked shocked. However, her mouth _did_ twitch. Inuyasha scowled, and straightened up. Crossing his arms across his chest, he muttered, "I thought you were my friends--"

Sango cut his self-pity off at the knees. "Did they say what they are, or where Kagome is?"

"No. And they _all_ smell like Kagome," he growled.

Miroku looked back up the tree, where a bright shock of hair was visible above a bobbing frond. "Shippo, come down and tell us what you saw during the fight. You were the closest."

"We need you," Sango added, appealing to the kitsune's ego.

Even his copious pride couldn't get him down the tree. Two eyes appeared below the hair, and glared accusingly down at the trio. "Not until Inuyasha calms down!"

Inuyasha muttered something uncouth at the kitsune. The kitsune mumbled something rude at the hanyou. Miroku and Sango eyed Tetsusaiga pointedly, and Inuyasha roughly thrust in back in the sheath. The hanyou kept one eye on the huddle of girls the entire time. They were furiously discussing something, hands gesturing wildly. He couldn't make out specific words-- there were too many words, all at once. He flicked his ears against his rough hair, trying to seal out the chatter, and shuddered. They were _dangerous._

As Inuyasha thrust his hands into his sleeves, Shippo crept down the trunk. When the kit reached the ground, he turned, folded his arms in an unconscious imitation of Inuyasha, and gave the hanyou a dirty look. "You have no idea how creepy that was."

"What, runt?"  
"How'd _you_ like to be grabbed by a bloodthirsty demon?"

"I nearly _was!"_ Inuyasha snapped.

"Well, _she's _not as scary as _you!"_

As the two bickered, Sango and Miroku looked at each other, then over at the flock of Kagomes. Miroku, curiosity overcoming his common sense, moved towards the group, only to receive a very pointed look from one of the girls. Alerted by her gaze, whatever they had been discussing was abruptly cut off. The whole group stared silently at the monk. They looked like a pack of wolves defending their kill. One went so far as to peruse the monk from head to toe, and back again. Then she licked her lips.

Sango approached Miroku and placed a firm hand on the monk's arm.

"I think they need some time alone." Her voice was soft, but her eyes were flint. However, for once the steely gaze was directed at the group, and not him.

He sighed, and looked from Sango to the girls. His eyes wandered.

Their eyes glared.

Miroku's ear was suddenly seized, and he found himself dragged backward. Sango, via the handy ear, hauled the monk to the spot the demon had originally attacked. Kirara, curiously unconcerned, trailed behind them. The slayer released the monk, who whined softly, and began scouring the ground. The Kagomes went back to their heated, if inaudible, discussion.

"Wait up!" Shippo cried. Belatedly, he had noticed the lack of a protective audience. He bounded over to where Miroku was brushing the point of his staff through the long grass. "It happened over here," the kitsune pointed. Inuyasha, following at a more dignified pace, pushed the kit aside, sniffing avidly.

Inuyasha crouched. Delicately, he reached out and pinched what was left of a paper doll between two talons. Flinging his arm towards the four girls, he shouted, "Did _you_ do this?!" Four heads popped up, and he received four identical shrugs.

"Man, I hate these things. I really do." He glanced up at Miroku, who had jingled up beside him. "What do you think it means?"

Miroku stretched his staff out and prodded the paper thoughtfully. "Shikigami. It means someone has had access to our Kagome."

Sango eyed the group of girls in ill-fitting uniforms, who were whispering in a furious huddle. "But why do this to them? Why create.." Sango paused, torn between truthfulness and loyalty to her friend. Since they weren't really her friend, truth won out, "...those idiots?"

"They're not _all_ idiots," Inuyasha growled defensively.

Shippo stared at the pieces of paper solemnly. "It's got a hole through its head."

"So it does. Well, that would explain things." The monk brushed dust dismissively off his robes.

Inuyasha paused in his olfactory examination of the paper doll halves. "What d'you mean?"

"Well, her affection for you, for one thing--"

"What has a _hole_ in the head have to do with her affection!?" Inuyasha snapped to his feet, clenching his fist at the monk. Calmly, Miroku pried the proffered talons open and removed the abused upper half of the shikigami.

"A shikigami's characteristics are influenced by the paper that creates them," the monk explained. He held the broken doll at eye level and looked through the hole at Inuyasha. "The shikigami that was destroyed showed very little intelligence."

"Yeah, Inuyasha," Shippo added, peering from behind the monk's robe. "She didn't yell at you once."

Inuyasha growled at the kit. "She really liked you, runt. Whad'ya think of that?" Shippo bristled, and drew a breath, preparing to let the hanyou know exactly what he thought of it.

"Why would someone make a shikigami with a hole through the head?" Sango interrupted diplomatically.

Shippo, distracted, leapt up to Miroku's shoulder and sniffed at the scrap. "That's just where the rings go." The others looked at him blankly. "In her book, you know? The one she studies out of."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. This does look like the paper Kagome uses. See the blue lines?"

"So _Kagome_ made this?" Kagome popped her head out of the huddle and scowled at the incredulous Inuyasha. Three arms snaked out and pulled her back into their cabal.

"Apparently. I didn't think she had the ability," Miroku said, thoughtfully.

"Well, she obviously _doesn't._"

"Now that's not fair, Inuyasha," Sango defended. "Kagome is a very powerful miko."

Inuyasha flapped the lower half of the paper doll at her with a scowl.

"Just not a very good one," Shippo conceded. Sango looked sideways at him.

"Why would Kagome make shikigami?"

"And where's the real Kagome?"

"Well, now that's the question, isn't it?" Miroku curled two fingers under his chin, shifting his staff into the crook of his arm and propping his elbow with his other hand. "If I were Kagome, where would I be?"

"Oi! Wench...es!" Three offended pairs of eyes glared at Inuyasha. The fourth pair just beamed adoringly. "Which one of you is my Kagome?"

"I am!"

"Are not!"

"Are not!"

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Are not!"

Miroku held up a restraining hand. "Obviously, none of them are the real Kagome. Just aspects of her personality."

The Kagomes grabbed each other's necks and dragged their collective heads back into the huddle.

"Which aspects?" Sango murmured to the monk. The Kagomes were getting really worked up, and one clenched her fists angrily. The others mimicked her perfectly.

"I think we're about to find out."


	4. Chapter four

And here's chapter four. Very short. It covers things Kagome and the shikigami needed to talk about.

Before we enter into the carnage, allow me to offer a gracious "W00T!!!11one1!!" in appreciation for those that took the time to review. Since this is my first fanfic, I've never had the pleasure of receiving reviews, and now I realize the sheer, unadulterated coolness of such. And yes, I do appreciate constructive criticism. I did go back and correct things that bugged me, and others, about chapter three. You were right. I wish I could just say, "Deal with it," but the truth is these little mistakes _do_ get to me. Crap.

As to if I'm gently teasing fangirldom, the answer is a firm and unequivocal maybe.

* * *

"First," Kagome flicked her index finger violently upright, "I want to know what happened to my clothes. And my bag." The shikigami looked at each other, guiltily. But not _too_ guiltily. That worried Kagome. 

"Second, I want to know what happened here." She stabbed the second finger ramrod straight, and thrust it at the girls in the circle. She had no idea what must have happened to get Inuyasha so... well, clingy. She had been with him for years and could count the times she'd been hugged like that on one hand. On one finger, practically. They'd been here five minutes and he was all over them. What did they have that she didn't? Or vice-versa?

"Third," she snapped, ring finger joining the others in a digital triumvirate, "I want to know why there's something really awful in the air."

"That's just Love," Imp jumped in, and pointed helpfully at the girl to Kagome's left. "Love stinks."

"Oh, ha ha." Love, unamused, folded her arms and shot a dark look at the other shikigami. "Like I haven't heard _that_ one before."

Kagome stamped her foot, something that she hadn't done since high school, and raised her voice. "I am _not_ kidding around!"

Lust grabbed her arm, looking anxiously over at the pine where a very confused Inuyasha had just joined Miroku and Sango. "What you feel is Naraku," she said, voice low. "But it's okay, so _please_ keep your voice down. We don't want them figuring us out too soon"

"Why not? And why is Naraku-- no, scratch that." Kagome flung both palms out, halting any explanations. "Where are my _clothes?_"

"Well," Imp began with forced cheerfulness, rubbing the back of her head, "when we woke up in your room, we were all wearing the same thing. So she suggested that you should look like us, too, I mean, not like shikigami, but like shikigami people, then we heard something so we all hid in the closet except the stupid one and then got to looking at the clothes and stuff and then thought well, why not, what's the worst that can happen--"

"Imp," Lust said, rather gently, "shut up."

"So you see? It makes perfect sense," Imp finished weakly.

Kagome sighed. "So you hid my clothes while I was sleeping, so I'd look like you?"

Three heads bobbed.

"Why?"

"Well, we didn't want them knowing who was who."

"Why?"

The shikigami looked at each other, apprehensively. Kagome closed her eyes and snapped, "Listen, I know that look. Spill it."

Love looked at Lust, and understandings were exchanged. "Let's not talk about that quite yet, shall we?" Love suggested. "We think you need a minute to absorb exactly what's going on here." Love smiled at the miko encouragingly. "Don't you like what you're wearing?"

"What, this thing? C'mon, it only appeals to schoolgirls and perverts." Speaking of such, she shot a glance at her friends under the pine, only to see Miroku approaching, Sango a half-step behind. The serene expression of idle curiosity on his face screamed trouble. The shikigami glanced up as well, and four pair of eyes hardened warningly at the monk. Sango placed a hand on his arm, and he stopped. However, his eyes continued the journey.

He was summarily dragged away by one ear. Imp smiled after them and said, affectionately, "Have I ever told you how much I like Sango?"

Love hummed in agreement, amused. "Imp. You're us. We know."

Kagome brought their attention back to more pressing issues. "Why my old school uniform? Why not some jeans and a sweatshirt?"

They shrugged. "You made us." Love looked at her, considering. "Maybe you're living in the past." Kagome groaned as her mother's words echoed.

Lust smirked, an unusual expression for Kagome's face. "Maybe you like the way you look."

"Hey!" three girls protested simultaneously.

Kagome looked at the shikigami in the circle with growing curiosity, tinged with horror. Did she really look like _that_? It was like hearing your voice on tape for the first time. _That's not me. That _can't _be how I look. _How in the world had she dared run around Japan looking like _that_? Miroku obviously had more restraint than she gave him credit for. She thought a moment. "Why aren't you cute little girls in kimonos, like Kikyo's shikigami?"

"Count your blessings. Tsubaki's shikigami was a snake, remember?" Imp stuck her tongue out and hissed.

Love explained, smiling gently, "Kikyo could distance herself. You can't. You feel with your whole heart."

Something occurred to Kagome. "So-- you were in my closet the _whole time_?"

"Most of us," Imp blurted. Lust elbowed her.

Normal people had serial killers or bug-eyed monsters in their closets. Kagome had herself. She _so_ did not want to read into that. "I am officially creeped out. And what did Imp mean by 'most of us'?"

Lust snapped at Imp. "Nice going."

Love continued, "You originally made five of us--"

"Four," Lust corrected, emphatically.

"No, five. I did make five." Kagome was silent a moment. "I think."

"Um, yeah, the fifth one didn't make it. Sort of." Imp looked rather abashed.

"What do you mean? Did _you_ have something to do with that?" Kagome pressed.

"We kind of interfered."

"You destroyed the fifth shikigami?"

"What? No!"

"Then where is she? Did you hide her from me?"

"We didn't hide her--"

"You _lost _her?"

"No!"

"Then?"

"What?"

"Never mind." Kagome took a deep breath. "So there are four of you now."

"Three."

Kagome leveled a very steady look at the shikigami. The look said, quite emphatically, 'I am a firm believer in recycling.'

Lust offered, "You just missed the fourth one."

"But Naraku's demon didn't," Imp added. She got another elbow in the ribs.

Inuyasha's harried voice cut across the field. "Did _you_ do this?" He flapped a scrap of something at them. The four girls shrugged him off.

Kagome pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a headache coming on. "So a fourth shikigami was just killed by something Naraku coughed up, and the others saw it. That's why Inuyasha was holding me-- he thought I died." She filed that away to think about at a later time. Like never. Never would be good. "And that's why Shippo was screaming."

"He looks like he recovered pretty quickly, though." Lust pointed to the field where Shippo was clinging to Miroku's shoulder, sniffing at what had once been Kagome's homework.

"I'm sort of insulted," Imp said. "He recovered _really_ quickly."

Love rolled her eyes. "Of course he did. He's a kitsune. He's used to the whole--uh," she waved her hand around the circle, "duplicate thing."

"Well, I'm not," Kagome snapped. "Now how do I turn you back into my algebra notes?"

She received three glares. She was not impressed. Then, simultaneously, a calculating look came into their eyes. Kagome felt the first stirrings of unease somewhere in her gut. It settled down right where her common sense had hastily packed and run off.

Imp took a deep breath, and, blatantly ignoring the warning look from Lust, began, "We know we have some confidence issues when it comes to how we think he-- others feel about us. We thought that we could help you see what they see, but only if he-- they didn't know you were the original Kagome. That way, you could see how-- they would react to different aspects of your personality-- meaning us-- that they don't often get to see."

"You could be a fly on the wall, so to speak," Love chimed in.

"A fly that could very well be swatted when everybody finds out," the miko said. "No, _will_ be swatted."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Imp grinned. "It'd be like dying and hearing your own eulogy."

Rubbing her forehead, Kagome mumbled, "That might not be far off."

Love shrugged. "It's worth the risk."

Kagome glared at the shikigami. "Hey, if I die, so do you, remember?"

"It'd be better than this," Lust snapped. "Aren't you _ever_ going to do anything about our love life? I mean, really. Did you plan on living in our shrine on the hill with forty fat cats until the mailman notices an odd smell?" She held up her hands, palms out, framing an imaginary headline. "'Aged, Lonely Miko Found Dead in Shrine. Cats Still Fat.'"

"Ewwww," Imp covered her mouth. "That's disgusting."

"And sad," Love offered. "You see? We can't let that happen."

"So," Imp clapped her hands together enthusiastically, "we're here to help!" They all grinned, and beamed at each other. "Prepare for--" the three shikigami pumped their fists in the air and chanted, "Operation Hanyou Love!"

Kagome swore she saw sparkles in their eyes. Instantly, she held her hands up, palms out. "No, no no no. No. You really don't have to do that for _me_. I couldn't impose." She took a step backward.

Three pair of cheerfully determined eyes pinned her. She recognized that look. Despair moved in next to unease, and set up shop.

"There's no way. This is crazy."

"As crazy as shooting at Sesshomaru in his father's grave?" asked Imp.

"As crazy as hugging a half-demon in a blood rage?" asked Love.

"As crazy as wearing a school uniform into Feudal Japan?" asked Lust.

Kagome looked at them. Her love life had just become a game of three-card monty. They looked back, eyes deceptively mild.

"I," Kagome said, enunciating each word carefully, "don't like you."

Love looked slightly hurt, but Imp clapped her hands, exclaiming, "that means she's giving in!" Love instantly brightened.

Inuyasha's voice snapped across the meadow again. This time he was cursing at Miroku. Kagome heard her name taken in vain, and jerked upright to give the hanyou a good glaring. And perhaps cry for help. However, the shikigami pulled her back into their huddle.

As they released her, she clung to Love's hand. "Don't you see?" Kagome appealed to the most emotional of the shikigami. "I just _can't!"_

Love patted her on the arm. "Oh, you're just nervous. Everything will work out."

"But what if it doesn't? I can't take that risk."

"Too bad," said Lust, unsympathetic. She looked at Kagome with implacable eyes. "If you don't agree," Lust continued, very slowly, "I'll tell Inuyasha exactly what our time says about the size of a man's ears. And that you believe it."

"We don't say _anything_ about the size of a man's ears!"

"Inuyasha doesn't know that."

Love took a deep breath. "And I'll tell him that you love him-- for his mind."

"You wouldn't dare!" She shot a worried look at the hanyou. He had once tried to pry open a package of ramen with his teeth. He had lost.

"And I'll just tell him whatever!" Imp smiled, shrugging.

Lust shook her head, eyes closed. "That's not much of a threat."

"Oh yeah? Watch!" She turned to the group under the pines and, cupping her hands around her mouth, said softly, "Hey, Inuyasha! You know what? Kagome once dreamt of a baby with white hair and do--" Kagome grabbed the shikigami's shoulder, whirling her back into the circle. "And they were _twins!_" she trilled.

Kagome lunged at the girl, clapping both hands over the shikigami's mouth. "Alright!" she hissed. "I get the point." _Nothing motivates like fear._ She felt Imp grin under her hands, and stepped back.

Kagome sighed. The drumming in her temples had hired a bassist and lead guitar, and was now cranking out a dull throbbing throughout her skull. _If the group turns on you, and you have to make a run for it, try to look like you're leading the charge. _ "Alright. I agree. But on one condition."

The others looked at her expectantly.

"No one but me hugs Inuyasha, ever again." She shot a look at Lust. "Ever."

"_Oi!_ Wench--es!" The hanyou in question stood, red and white against the late afternoon sky. The others were ranged behind him, dark spots in the bronzed grass. "Which one of you is _my _Kagome?"

"I am!" Love called instantly, beaming.

"Are not!" Lust rebutted, fists clenched. She glared at her cohort.

"Are not!" Imp joined in, enthusiastically. She smiled at Kagome. "Your turn."

Kagome gripped her head. It was a _bad_ headache.


	5. Chapter five

Welcome to chapter five. And if I could sell the mood-altering effects of reviews in pill form, I'd be a wanted woman. Not that I'm not anyway. And no, I did _not_ know this little thing was nominated.  
Cooooool.

* * *

The surrounding pines stretched violet shadows low across the meadow, wrapping securely around small dells and stones. Golden switch grass nodded warmly. Sizzling, the sun hung low in the indigo autumn sky, sinking into goosedown clouds that wreathed the mountains. It looked like a very rotund Myouga easing into a steaming hot spring. 

Kagome would have dearly loved a hot spring right about now.

Her toes, she was sure, were as purple as Miroku's robes. She couldn't really tell, though, since most of her appendages had stopped communicating with the rest of her body some time ago. Her teeth were clenched to keep them from chattering, and she had draped her hair around her neck in an attempt to keep the chill off. Her nose was icy, and running.

She _hated _a runny nose.

Turning her back to the sunset, she held her hands out to the small cooking fire again. Immediately the chill snaked up her spine, and her knees began to play the castanets. She'd forgotten how coldthe mountains could be, but the memories were returning with a vengeance. Even the deceptively soft breeze snatched her body heat, draining what little warmth her shivering produced.

The shikigami sat around the fire and didn't shiver at her. _Blatant_ non-shivering.

Apparently the shikigami were immune to her lowly human condition, and sat oblivious to their creator's distress. Instead, they were chatting amicably with her friends. Well, most of her friends. Inuyasha was avoiding them like a blonde avoiding the Bates Motel. He was sitting, arms folded, side to the fire, eyes flat and mouth tight. _He looks offended, _Kagome thought. Like the appearance of the shikigami was a personal affront. Who had spat in his rice?

_Oh,_ she thought. _No rice._

She couldn't expect the hanyou to deal with this on an empty stomach. She was barely holding together with Kaede's turnip stew leftovers keeping her company in more ways than one. Still, he really looked peeved. Did he think that she'd done this on purpose? To him, specifically?

Probably.

She glanced at the rest of the group. They seemed to be handling things well. Miroku, wrapped in one of his heavier robes, was poking a stick absently at the fire, his staff lying close beside him. Kagome had to admire his calm in the face of just about any event, excepting an angry Sango. Nothing like living daily with a demonic hole in your hand to breed tranquility.

Sango, with Kirara in her lap, was leaning against a propped Hiraikotsu, feet curled under. Of course she wasn't cold, Kagome thought bitterly. She had slayer gear as well as her traditional dress and green apron. Nothing, not even the monk's hand, could get past that outfit. The slayer was chatting with Imp. Or, more accurately, was listening with a bemused expression as the shikigami chatted on. And on. Kagome winced. Was she truly that bad?

Again the answer was: Probably.

Shippo, however, did look a bit distressed. He uncertainly studied each of the identical young women from the safety of Inuyasha's bad attitude. Kagome wondered just what had happened with the brainless shikigami to make him so timid. As if reading her thoughts- or sharing them- Love stretched her hand out to the kitsune, and he approached warily.

"You aren't gonna hug me, are you?" His voice spoke of a thousand earlier horrors.

"Only if you want me to," Love gently replied.

Shippo considered this.

"You don't seem like the other one," he postulated, confirming Kagome's suspicions. "What part of Kagome are you?"

Sango sounded a bit taken aback. "Shippo! That's not very-"

"He only voiced what we are all thinking," Miroku said calmly. "Please don't take any offense."

Love smiled. Kagome wished she looked as sweet. "None taken. I'm Love," she gestured to the shikigami at either side, "this is Lust, and she's Impulsive."

"Imp for short," the shikigami waved, cheerily.

Sango, Miroku, Shippo and a sideways Inuyasha all looked expectantly at Kagome.

"Oh, she hasn't really figured out exactly who she is, yet," Lust offered. The three shikigami eyed Kagome knowingly.

Kagome, lacking a withering riposte, turned her back on the group. More importantly, she warmed whatever wasn't.

She heard Miroku shift. Without looking, she just _knew_ Inuyasha's ears were twitching.

_Here it comes_, she thought. _Humiliation in ten. Nine. Eight-_

Miroku cleared his throat. "Kagome has chosen to incarnate very interesting attributes. Lust, would you be so kind as to illuminate just what Kagome-"

_Blastoff._

Sango's voice, draped with veiled threat, cut across the monk's. "Houshi-_sama_, don't you mean Love?"

"No, Sango dear, I believe-"

"I'm _sure_ you meant Love." Her voice was flat, threat unveiled. Kagome heard someone growling, and wasn't sure if it was Sango or Inuyasha.

Maybe both.

She heard her own voice cut across the campsite. To her surprise, it _was_ her voice. "I don't think Kagome would like her _attributes_ answering any personal questions."

Imp's brash voice queried, "Why not? Why create us, then?" There was a smile in her voice. A smug, cat-ate-the-canary smile.

Kagome shot a venomous look at the shikigami over her shoulder. "Perhaps she just wanted to rid herself of those _attributes_ she _doesn't like."_

Imp threw her hands up, smile gone. "Fine." Lust shrugged noncommittally, and Love sighed.

"A fat lot we'll get accomplished this way," Lust muttered.

Clutching her elbows, Kagome scowled back out into the meadow. She was feeling helpless, out of control. Resolving things with Inuyasha had been taken out of her hands, just as her mother had said. Well, not quite out of them. It was just that she now had eight hands instead of two. And the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.

She smoothed the wrinkles out of her forehead with the back of her chilled wrist. She could figure a way out of this mess. She could. She would. But she was so _cold_. And tired. She gazed back over the meadow. _Please,_ she thought, _give me a sign-_

The sun, sliding over the horizon, sent a last beam of light ricocheting through the trees. The fading sunbeam skimmed over the top of grass, skipping over a couple rocks and a large, odd lump. A yellow lump. With pockets.

"My bag!" Kagome gratefully left the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the campsite and stalked over to the abused backpack. It was less than thirty feet from where she had been shivering. Torn between delight at finding the bag and irritation at not having it earlier, Kagome hauled it back to the fireside. Her jacket was in there somewhere, and a pot to heat water. She knelt and eagerly unbuckled the top, illuminated more by firelight than daylight. The pack was battered, damp, and dirty.

And filled entirely with ramen. The others, who had perked up at her find, leaned back again.

Lust sighed. "We never should have put _her_ in charge of packing." Love forced an embarrassed giggle.

Shippo darted over, eyes stricken. "You mean you didn't bring me any candy? There are _four_ of you and no one brought candy?" He began to wail.

"Shut up," Inuyasha said absently, trying to keep an eye on both the group of young women and the rapidly growing pile of ramen. "It's not like she didn't bring you that giant sucker last time."

"Yeah, but _you _got your nasty dog hair all over it."

"You know, runt, I'm beginning to think you _like_ pain."

"I'm surprised you're thinking at all."

Three Kagomes closed their eyes and shook their heads in unison. There was the sound of a scuffle.

The others ignored the two pugilists, and Kagome produced both her wrinkled jacket and the battered pot. Shrugging thankfully into the warmth of thermoweave, Kagome handed the pot to Sango.

As Sango poured water from her bamboo flask into the dented metal, the monk curled his hand under his chin and eyed the young women. His hand never twitched. No lust in his gaze.

_Uh oh, _Kagome thought. She pulled her jacket tighter. He was thinking again.

"Why isn't Kagome with you?" Miroku queried. Curse his methodical mind. Kagome thought fast.

Imp, ironically, spoke up. "Creating us tired her out. She overslept, and probably had enough sense to stick in the village. I mean, she'd have to be an idiot to follow us without her bow and bag."

Kagome sat down quickly and tried very hard not to blush. The funny thing she discovered was that the harder one tried not to blush, the pinker one became.

Inuyasha skidded to a halt, allowing Shippo to dart up a tree. "You mean you're not sure where Kagome is?"

Lust shot Love a look. "No. We know _exactly_ where Kagome is. We're her creation. It's a built-in feature."

Imp giggled. "She's perfectly safe. I can guarantee that."

Perfectly safe.

Right.

Kagome sighed.

Miroku looked over at her. "Why is she so quiet?" His eyes were calculating.

Lust shrugged, overly casual. "Who knows? Maybe she doesn't want to participate."

Sango frowned. "Kagome-chan? She _always_ wants to participate." Her gaze thumped heavily on Kagome. "So which aspect could she be?"  
Inuyasha huffed. Shippo, with the element of surprise on his side, launched himself at the hanyou's back from an overhanging branch. Inuyasha caught him absently, gripping a plush tail. Tossing Shippo into the surprised arms of Kagome, he scowled and resumed his prior position, sitting half-turned from the others. "We're better off not knowing," the hanyou said, bluntly. "Who knows what kind of crazy is tied up in that thing?"

Kagome drew in a breath to say something witty and cutting, although she wasn't quite sure what it would be yet. Instead, she sneezed.

Shippo recoiled. "Yuck." He glared up at her. "This one must have a hole in the head, too."

Kagome apologetically wiped his face with her cuff, and cuddled him close to her stomach.

"Nah, she's just the sick Kagome," Inuyasha stated. "Kagome is _always_ getting sick."

"She is not!" Kagome snapped, then sniffed. Shippo flinched.

"Heh." Inuyasha shifted slightly, nose in the air. "So they're pretty useless. Why don't we just cut them down?"

"Inuyasha! Don't even think of such a thing!" Sango said, shocked. Kirara mewed agreement.

"I don't think it would please Kagome to destroy her hard work so callously," Miroku added.

The hanyou sighed. "So how would you suggest destroying them?"

"Inuyasha!"

"C'mon! These things are nothing but trouble!" He pointed an accusatory talon at the four young women. "As if _one _Kagome isn't bad-"

"Just _stop_ it!" Kagome pointed an accusatory finger back at the sullen Inuyasha. "So help me, if you have one more rotten comment-"

Shippo looked to Inuyasha and mumbled, "Maybe she's the bossy Kagome." Inuyasha nodded, arrogance in his eyes. A smirk was smart enough to decline making an appearance.

_"I am not bossy!" _

"Or maybe the scary one." Shippo added. Kagome frowned down at him, and then wrapped the kitsune in a bear hug.

"Hey! Cut it out!" His voice flung straight from smug to panicked. "I'm just a little kid! I want to _live-"_

"One more comment, and I'm making sure my nose is clean, too." Shippo stilled, and Kagome relented. To her surprise, he stayed in her lap, snuggling up to her jacket.

Everyone watched the fire for a few moments. The pot, despite the hackneyed idiom, did boil, and a moment later Sango handed out steaming bowls.

Inuyasha caressed the Styrofoam bowl as if it were a childhood treasure. For a fleeting moment, Kagome had a vision. Inuyasha, in silhouette against a scarlet sunset, stood under the windswept limbs of a bare tree. His fist was raised, clutching a cup of ramen, and she swore she heard the words, "I'll never go hungry again..."

She laughed softly to herself, and looked with shining eyes at the content hanyou. She was glad Love had packed so much ramen, really. It was the one thing Inuyasha thought she did right, even if it was technically the Nisson Corp.'s cooking. Abruptly she felt eyes on her.

Miroku was watching. "Now that's the most Kagome-like sound I've heard all evening," he noted, casually cradling his soup. He ran the beads on his palm back and forth over the rim of the bowl, thinking. Always thinking. Kagome frowned at him.

Shippo paused in crunching the still-crispy noodles. He looked up at the monk. "I hope she's okay."

"I'm sure Kaede is taking good care of her. She's safer there."

Lust rolled her eyes. "Oh really? Where the first line of defense is a flap?"

"Well, tomorrow is the night of the new moon, so we should return to Kaede. Inuyasha, I'm sure, will feel safer at the village."

"Hey!" protested Inuyasha.

"And then we can reunite with Kagome, and discuss with Kaede what is to be done with the shikigami."

"Hey!" protested Imp.

"And find Naraku," Sango stated, in a voice laden with finality. "Kaede did mention she felt darkness, and with the incarnation this afternoon, I can't help but feel he's somewhere close."

"I hope so," snapped Inuyasha. "I'm gettin' really tired of tracking him down and slicing him up."

_Naraku_, Kagome thought with a chill that had nothing to do with the autumn evening. He'd kill a person just because they looked his way. No, just because it was _fun. _Just like he'd snap Shippo's neck just to watch her twitch, or crush Kohaku to torture Sango. He didn't care if you were a young or old, rich or poor. He didn't care whether a victim was human or youkai. Even dead or alive. Just so long as you felt pain.

He truly was an equal opportunity psycho.

Maybe that's why Kikyo ticked him off so easily- she didn't seem to have an emotional weakness. _In contrast, I'm nothing_ but _an emotional weakness._

Her thoughts were interrupted when Lust started. "Wait. You said tomorrow's the new moon?" She turned agitated eyes to Love. "Tomorrow's the new moon!"

Love stared at her. "Tomorrow? The new moon?"

Imp nodded, anxious. "The new moon is tomorrow!"

All three turned their suddenly focused gaze on the hanyou. Inuyasha's body tensed, although his mouth was still blissfully ignorant enough to settle for a flat, "No."

"No what?" said Love.

"No whatever you're up to." His body slowly took over from his mouth, and he rose to his feet.

"Quit behaving as if stupidity were a virtue. We just want to talk," Lust said, exasperation in her voice.

"No _especially_ to that."

"Inuyasha-" cajoled Imp.

"No!"

Kagome looked at them curiously. What was with the whole new moon thing?

Lust noticed her interrogatory gaze, and pulled her ear close, whispering, "Look. Inuyasha will be human that night. What does he do when he's human?"

"Uh, not much?"

"Let me give you a hint." The shikigami covered a protesting Shippo's ears. "'You smell... nice.'"

"Oh."

"Yep. Ol' tough and grumpy gets soft and squishy. If his human side-"

"his emotional side-" Imp interjected, _sotto voce_.

"his feminine side-" Love leaned in, the words no more than a breath.

"gets one good feel for us and he'll know right away which one is which. I mean, he may not know it, but he'll _know_ it. We won't have any pull on him after that."

"But the others don't know-"

"They don't love you. And anyway, if Naraku is in the area, then..."

"On the night of the new moon he'll try to make hanyou hash."

"Human hash."

"Whatever. The point is, we've got to get you two straightened out by then."

As one, the four Kagomes turned back to Inuyasha.

Who was nowhere to be seen. A bowl of ramen steamed innocently on the crushed grass, wobbling slightly.

Miroku and Sango pointed not-so-subtle fingers upward, shoulders drooping.

"And just when it was getting interesting," Shippo muttered, turning over in Kagome's lap.

Lust strode over to one of the large pines and slapped the bark. "Come down, Inuyasha, or we'll say it!"

Kagome narrowed her eyes at Imp. "You wouldn't."

"We can and will unless Inuyasha gets down here _this minute!"_ snapped Lust.

"Whaddya want, anyway?" came a suspicious arboreal voice.

"We just want to give you some advice," Love called.

"I don't need advice!"

"About Kagome."

"Feh."

Shippo muttered, "He needs all the help he can get."

"Agreed," nodded Miroku. Although the noodles were still softening, the monk sipped at the hot broth. He continued conversationally, "Who would have thought that shikigami would stand Inuyasha's hair on end?" His foot gently nudged Sango.

"It _is_ surprising," the slayer agreed, tone serious if her eyes weren't. She noticed Kagome watching her, and quickly lowered her gaze to her cup of ramen. "I've never known him to bypass dinner because he was afraid."

"_Who's_ afraid!"

"And to think," she continued, "all this time we thought he was brave, and it turns out he's always been secretly terrified of paper. You know," Sango said to the monk at her side, "you should be more careful where you throw your lid. He may not come down at all." She waved the circular top at the monk, who slurped a particularly long noodle. His eyes, Kagome noticed, shifted to the kitsune curled on the miko's bent legs.

"I just don't _feel_ like eating, okay? So shut up already."

Shippo, who had already crunched his way through two cups of ramen, turned bloated-belly up in Kagome's lap. Eyes still closed, he roused himself enough to sleepily accuse, "You're such a coward."

"What did you say, _runt?"_

Shippo continued, almost on autopilot, "Quit being so indecisive about Kagome."

Kagome watched the interchange with growing awe. Her eyes flicked from Miroku, to Sango, to Shippo, and back again. Her friends had _planned_ for this kind of thing. She hunched her shoulders up to her ears. Sango was concentrating very hard on her dinner, but Miroku was sanguine as always. What were they thinking, siding with the shikigami? She knew they had good intentions, but she also knew what road good intentions paved. And, considering the usual end of these schemes, it was also frightening. Like the hot-spring incident. Or the curry incident. Or, heaven help her, the pickle-and-comb incident.

Very, very frightening.

"You're a man, aren't you? So get it over with!" the kitsune finished sharply, one small hand jabbing the sky. The hand wavered for a moment, then collapsed to the bulbous belly. A soft snore emanated from the lifeless figure. Kagome prodded him, morbidly curious. He'd probably slipped into a sodium-induced coma.

"Quit bugging me! I'll listen to 'em when I feel like it, and that will be _never!"_

Miroku shook his head, eyes lowered. "Such a coward. I've been sadly deceived."

Sango reassured him, one hand waving slightly in the air. Kagome had seen this gesture before, but now realized Sango was patting the air instead of the monk. Smart woman. "Don't worry, Houshi-sama. I'm sure Kirara and Shippo will still be-"

"It ain't gonna work, so _shut up and go to sleep!"_ There was a rustling in the trees, and Kagome thought she heard a drifting, "-; midget's gonna get fat anyway."

Lust, who had been growing progessively more irritable since Inuyasha had disappeared into the swaying branches, slapped both hands to the trunk. "Enough!" Turning to the two shikigami, she nodded. _"Osu-"_

Love jumped up, _"-wa-;"_

_"-ri;!" _Imp chimed, clapping.

Cursing rained down on them, along with various bits of tree and one furious hanyou.

Kagome covered her eyes. Oh yeah, _this _would set the appropriate mood. She sensed her impending doom, approaching with all the finesse of a derailed roller-coaster. The young woman decided, with a sigh, that she couldn't do much about it.

So she might as well enjoy it.

She cradled the boneless Shippo to her and looked down at the prone, if twitching, Inuyasha. The three shikigami stood, like deranged cheerleaders, on the edge of the hanyou-divot. They were watching her, expectantly. She smiled grimly, and their eyes lit up. Inuyasha was going to face up to whatever his feelings were for her. There would be no more denial. No more deflection. She was cold, she was tired, and Inuyasha had insulted her cooking for the last time.

She'd had enough.

"You _will_," Kagome began, funneling all the ice in her nose and toes into her voice, "come with us. _And_ you will listen to every little thing we say, whether you like it or not."

Inuyasha jumped up, fists clenched. "I will _n-"_

Kagome grabbed his ear, Shippo tucked like a furry football. "_Right now."_

Miroku saluted the hanyou. "Good luck, Inuyasha. Your bravery is second only to your intelligence."

"Miroku, that was very complementary." The words were kind, but Sango's tone was both surprised and suspicious.

"Did I say he was intelligent?"

Inuyasha gulped.

_Oh yeah. I _am_ the scary one._ Kagome grinned to herself, set Shippo next to the fire, and marched into the forest. She was followed by three eager shikigami and one reluctant, if dearly loved, hanyou.

* * *

Kagome's stride faltered as she entered the treeline. Was she really going to do this?

She heard Inuyasha muttering behind her.

Yes. Yes, she was.

The three shikigami darted ahead, looking for the perfect locale. _Probably somewhere with sheer walls and no escape route._ Kagome shook her head. Why, oh why, had she ever thought shikigami would be easy? _I mean, to thy own self be true and everything, but really-_

Inuyasha came up beside her. His arms were folded in his sleeves, and, despite the growing darkness, she could see the scowl on his face.

No, she could _feel_ it.

He was silent for a moment, walking beside her.

_Just don't say anything. They can sense fear._

He took a breath. "So, whaddya think they want?"

Kagome looked through the trees at the flashes of white ahead. "Honestly? I have no idea."

"Well, you're them, aren't you? You've got to have _some_ idea."

"I really don't want to think about it, okay?"

More silence.

"I mean, that Lust thing better keep her hands off me. Kagome wouldn't ever touch me like that. She wouldn't dare."

"Um, actually, that's not quite true."

Inuyasha missed a step. "Huh?"

"Well, when she first came through the well and found you, she kind of-"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing really."

_"What did she do?"_

"It's no big deal. She just kind of- fondled your ears."

Inuyasha halted. "Huh?"

Kagome kept walking. Unfortunately, Inuyasha leapt up beside her again.

"Well. That doesn't count. She did it before she knew me." He pointed an arm in the general direction of the three shikigami. "If they're really part of Kagome, then that Lust thing should be a _lot_ shorter."

"Um, actually, that's not quite true either."

This time Inuyasha almost fell, arms flailing a moment. _"Huh?"_

Kagome's face felt hot. She continued walking, waiting for the startled hanyou to catch up. _In for a penny, in for a pound. It's not like I am me, anyway, right?_

_Right._

Inuyasha reappeared at her side, head tilted towards her. She rubbed her arms, and didn't look at him. "Well, remember when Souta nearly scalded you in the bath?"

A sniff. Inuyasha thrust his arms back in his sleeves.

"She didn't wash that towel for a week."

"Now you're just making stuff up."

Her death-row trudge morphed into a warpath stomp. "I am not!"

"Whatever."

"Remember Jaken and Tetsusaiga at the hot spring?"

"Feh."

"She peeked."

He nearly beaned himself on a tree.

"And remember the pickle-and-comb thi-"

_"She peeked!"_

"She was really trying to- yes, she peeked." Kagome was silent a moment. "Repeatedly."

"Now I _know _you're making stuff up."

She turned on the hanyou. "Are you calling me a _liar?"_

He leaned in, nose to nose. "If the stupid shoe fits!"

She jabbed a finger into his haori. "Tell me you don't think of her that way!"

"Fine! I don't think of her that way!"

"Whatever!" She whirled away from him, stalking onward. "Why don't you just _sit_ for a moment and think about it _some more_!"

From behind her came the satisfying sound of a tall body becoming a short one. She felt a twinge of guilt under her anger, and quickened her pace to catch up with her extortionists.

They had chosen a roughly circular clearing, and eyed her curiously as she stomped past them, never making eye contact.

"Why do I get so irritable around him?" Kagome asked a nearby tree. She then grabbed the trunk and gently pounded her head against it.

"Do you really want to know?" Lust asked her.

_Not really. It was a rhetorical question._ But she stayed silent. This way, if they answered, she wasn't really talking to herself, was she?

"We think you just need a little affection." That must've been Love. Someone patted Kagome on her shoulder. It was really irritating. Who did these people think they were?

Oh, right.

"You think so?"

Lust couldn't keep quiet. Or maybe it was Imp. "I think you need a little more than affection." She had the grace to sound flustered. Must be Imp. "You need to get lai-"

"Oi! Wenches!"

Kagome rapidly brushed the bark off her pink forehead and turned to face the oncoming, angry hanyou.

He snarled into the clearing, "What the _he-"_

Love danced in and grabbed his fists. "I'm first!" she called. Kagome stiffened.

Inuyasha, wind sucked from his sails, looked at her with confusion, and a little fear. "What?"

"You already said that," Lust pointed out, amused.

Love's voice was reassuring. "I'm first to talk to you. Then Lust, then Imp." Kagome attempted to slouch into a very small, unnoticeable shadow. Immediately she felt eyes piercing her scalp, even if she couldn't see them clearly. "And then her."

Kagome mumbled, "'Cause I haven't done enough damage tonight."

Love giggled, and towed Inuyasha off into the trees.

* * *

Kagome, Lust, and Imp crouched low in the shrubbery. After some discussion, they had decided that eavesdropping would be a bad idea. Then they did it anyway. 

Inuyasha and Love had faced off. Inuyasha, back stiff and ears flat, had his hands thrust so far up his sleeves that Kagome was sure he was gripping his elbows. Love, on the other hand, was leaning slightly toward the hanyou, hands clasped to her chest, eyes shining in the emerging starlight. _It's like some warped greeting card, _Kagome thought. _'Sorry to hear you love me, better luck next time!' And on the inside it'd say, 'Thanks for no memories!'_

Love's voice drifted softly towards them. "...and she'll only ask for one thing. Unconditional love. That's all." She sighed. "Oh, and understanding." She thought for a moment. "And quit calling her names. And don't forget her birthday. That's a no-no. But otherwise, that's all."

Inuyasha glared at her.

Love never budged. Instead, she drew in a breath, as if gathering courage that had fought off demons. Kagome wondered what humiliation could possibly come next.

"May I recite a poem I wrote for you?"

Kagome wondered how deep she could sink into the loam.

Lust, as if sensing the embarrassment to come, leapt to the rescue. Pushing through the undergrowth, she strode between the two. "Time's up!"

Love's shoulders squared. "But I was just about-"

"Yep, Inuyasha's got it: love, birthdays, and a huge diamond the size of his head."

Love's hands dropped to her hips. "Kagome wouldn't ask for a diamond!"

Inuyasha's head swiveled from one to the other. "What's a diamond?"

Lust continued, "Well she should, but she probably won't. She's not the type." She looked the hanyou over. "And neither are you." She stepped behind her counterpart and, hands on the girl's back, urged her out of the clearing. "My turn!"

"Fine!" Love stomped into the trees.

Kagome looked at Imp. Imp looked at Kagome. Even in the darkness, the threat was unmistakable. Imp sighed. Scooting out of their hiding spot, she skulked back to wait with Love.

Turning back to the clearing, Kagome looked with horror at the girl lecturing a very desperate Inuyasha. The hanyou looked as if her were ready to gnaw his arm off to get away.

"Now she'll only ask for one thing in bed. Just one thing."

"Erk," said Inuyasha, helpfully.

Lust grabbed him by a fistful of hair, brought his face down to hers, and said, very clearly, "Take off your socks."

"-no-socks-;"

"And since you don't wear any, you'll have no problem, right? So don't you feel more confident now?" She released his abused hair, smiled kindly, and patted him reassuringly on the arm.

"Erk," he repeated.

"And as for _technique-"_

Kagome scrambled away, uncaring if they heard her or not.

* * *

Lust returned to the group a few moments later. Kagome, filled with dread, looked questioningly at the shikigami as she passed. _That_ certainly hadn't taken long. She didn't know whether to be worried or relieved. 

"You're done?" Love asked, disbelief mingling with suspicion.

Lust waved her hand dismissively. "Oh yeah. Believe it or not, he's not gonna need much advice from _me._" She smiled impishly at Kagome. "You lucky girl."

Kagome stared at her in unmitigated terror. _No. No no no no. She wouldn't._

Lust nodded at her. Her smile should've been in the sea, somewhere, with a triangular fin on its back.

_She would._

Imp jumped up. "Now he's all mine!"

Kagome groaned, and wearily rose to follow the eager incarnation, Love and Lust trailing.

* * *

Kagome looked with horror at the girl leaning unabashed toward a very flustered Inuyasha. She was right under his nose. _Talk about invasion of personal space_. 

"Well," Imp said, expectantly, "go ahead."

"Go ahead what?"

"Ask me."

"Ask you what?"

"Anything! Everything!" Imp flung her arms wide, smiling even wider. "Whatever you want to know about me but never had the courage to ask!"

"Heh. Are you saying I'm a coward?"

_"Osu-"_

Inuyasha threw his arms up defensively, flinching. "Don't!"

"You see? So I'm not going to say it and I'm too impulsive to not answer you." She nodded reassuringly. "So shoot!"

Inuyasha sat on his haunches and glared at her. "I can't think of anything."

A coquettish look came into the shikigami's eyes, and she flopped next to him. "Do you want to know if Kagome likes you?"

Kagome had pre-traumatic elementary school flashbacks. A note, passed from desk to desk. 'Do you like me? Check the box: Yes. No.' She shook her head. This was _so_ immature.

Nevertheless, it was also Inuyasha. Perhaps it would work.

"Heh. I know she likes me." Relaxing, he shifted to a lotus position and leaned back, stretching his arms above his head. "She's always liked me best."

There was a snapping from the shrubbery opposite the shikigami that _could_ have been two exasperated humans holding a young kitsune down, but was probably just a squirrel.

This had no deterrent on the shikigami. "Do you want to know if Kagome _loves_ you?" Her eyes were bright, and her head was tilted, birdlike. Inuyasha's attention, distracted by the suspicious noises, whirled back to his erstwhile inquisitor. His jaw hung, slack.

There was a rustling from the shrubbery opposite Inuyasha that _could_ have been two shikigami holding a young human woman down, but was probably just a deer.

Inuyasha, frozen, stared at the girl. He brought his jaw back up with a snap. "Does she-" Shoving his arms into his sleeves, he turned his head, eyes closed, nose in the air. "Of course she doesn't."

One eye, however, opened to look sideways at Imp. "Does she?" He was nearly inaudible.

Imp leaned close to the hanyou, one hand on his folded arms. Softly, she whispered, "Yep."

Inuyasha's eyes shot wide open, staring blindly at the sky. Then he turned, grabbed the startled shikigami by the shoulders, and kissed her soundly.

Right on the lips.

Then he leapt up, and shot off toward camp.

Kagome quit struggling, shocked. Lust popped her head up from where she had wrapped herself around the miko's legs. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing," Kagome said shortly. Love, who had pinned her by the arms, looked at Kagome and nodded. Imp sprang from her frozen pose and did a little jig that looked more like a full-body convulsion.

Lust and Love stood and brushed off their respective debris. Then they each took one of Kagome's hands and hauled her unceremoniously upright. Imp, came over to the group, and, seeing the threat in Kagome's eyes, brought her glee down a notch.

"And now," Lust proclaimed, one hand on hip, the other with an index finger pressed against her cheek, "it's your turn." The index finger slid off her cheek and, like some evil wheel of fortune, came to a rest pointing directly at Kagome.

"Huh?" Kagome looked behind her. No one. _Oh no. No no no no._

This time Love took control, dragging Kagome back into their clearing. "Sit," she commanded. Kagome, outnumbered, obeyed, collapsing to a rock still warm from the sun.

Love nodded to her companion, and Lust strode forward like a field marshal, coming to a stop directly in front of the miko. "Now," she demanded, "name one of your favorite things about Inuyasha's body."

Kagome immediately regained her feet. "What!"

"You heard me. Shoulders or butt? Pick one."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at Lust, and thrust a finger at her. "You," she said with disgust, "have a sick mind. Sick sick sick!"

Lust grinned at her. Imp started laughing, and even Love giggled. Kagome bowed her head, arm drooping. "Oh. I'm worse than I thought." She clutched her head. "I'm a horrible, horrible person!"

Lust sauntered over and swung a companionable arm around Kagome's shoulders. "Nah. We're just human. Well, you are, anyway. It's perfectly natural to think he's got nice shoulders."

Imp laughed harder. "It isn't the shoulders she thought of. It-it was the-" She gestured vaguely downwards, breath spent. She was laughing so hard that her knees gave out, and she dropped to the forest floor.

Lust looked at the flushed Kagome with admiration. "Really? I knew you had me in you!" She hugged Kagome, then leaned back and shook her gently. "About time you recognized me! You've had me buried so deeply I didn't think you'd _ever_ let me out."

"But I'm not _supposed_ to let you out!" Kagome wailed.

"Of course you are. What, you still think people procreate by kissing? You're in college, girl. You know better. It's perfectly natural to want somebody."

"As long as your hearts are together," Love broke in. "Always remember that. Otherwise _she_ will just get you into trouble."

Lust gave her patented trouble-making grin. "But trouble can be so much _fun_."

"At first, maybe," Love snorted. "But _she_," Love continued, "can be awkward. Sticky, too."

Kagome slapped her hands over her ears and moaned. "I am _not_ hearing this. I am really _not_ hearing this!" However, her eyes were still open, and Lust, illuminated by starlight, made a trademark gesture with her tongue that Kagome had only glimpsed in the wrong types of movies. Not even the movies that came on Cinemax at one in the morning. This was from the type of movie that came on at _three_ in the morning. _Oh, my eyes. My precious, precious eyes! _Her hands flicked from her ears, grinding into her sockets in an attempt to abrade the image, _her_ image, from memory.

Unfortunately, that left her ears defenseless again. Lust continued, in a thoughtful voice, "Of course. That's why he's so grumpy around us. He probably wants to grab you and have his way with you, but he can't because he's not too sure how you'll react. It's a classic case of male frustration."

Love sounded impatient. "But he already _knows_ how we feel. Mostly." Kagome pulled her palms from her eyes, blinking at the momentary spots.

"Yeah, but that's like having a poster of some guy on the wall. It's safe love, knowing we'll never really have to make a move. Like dating Hojo." Lust looked at Kagome, determination burning in her eyes. "From this day on, I will dedicate my existence to making sure your love is not safe."

Kagome groaned and recovered her ears.

* * *

Love was next. "Since I didn't get to share my poem with Inuyasha earlier, I think it's only fair that you get to hear it." 

"I can't believe you wrote him _poetry._" Kagome shuddered. Poetry. _How do you get a poet off your doorstep? Pay them for the pizza._

"Technically, _you_ wrote him poetry." Love cleared her throat with conviction. Kagome lowered her head. _It's too dark to read. Perhaps she won't be able to-_

The shikigami held the paper in front of her, took a breath, and closed her eyes.

Love had it memorized. Kagome groaned silently.

She was such a sap.

Imp groaned, audibly. Kagome slapped a pre-emptive hand over the shikgami's mouth. Love ignored their antics and began. "'My heart cries for you, my dog-eared hanyou-'"

* * *

Kagome sat in the aftermath of the performance, slightly disoriented. Love had rhymed with every ounce of her soul, and had somehow managed to shoehorn 'forever' into a very surprised and disgruntled rhyme with 'roar.' Kagome's brain had rebelled after the first stanza, but with nowhere to go, it had curled into a corner of her skull and sobbed. 

Lust, eyes twinkling, asked, "Why'd you stop?" Kagome nearly throttled her, but clenched her hands in her skirt.

Love looked at the paper she had crushed to her chest. "I can't find a rhyme for orange."

Kagome rolled her eyes, in a small release. "There isn't one." _Thank goodness for small favors._

"What?"

Imp looked at Love with curiosity. "How can you be us and we not know that yourselves?"

Love, getting the gist of the sentence, looked dismayed. "I was made from Algebra 110 notes. I didn't get any grammar." She looked over at Kagome. "Is there really no rhyme for orange?"

Pressing her fingertips to her temples in an attempt to keep her brain from lunging at the shikigami, she mumbled, "Go ahead and try it."

There was silence. Blessed, blessed silence.

Until Imp suggested, "Try it with the alphabet until you find a word that rhymes. A, aorange. B, borange. C, corange. D-"

This time, Kagome didn't bother stifling her impulse. Eventually Love had to break up the fight.

* * *

Back at the campsite, a breathless trio waited for Inuyasha's return. Miroku had launched into a discussion on the properties of shikigami, Shippo and Sango feigning intense interest. 

As the hanyou dropped back to the fireside, he gave them a dirty look. Miroku ignored him, continuing in his lecture.

"An onmyouji or miko creates a shikigami as an extension of themselves. Shikigami can be decoys, familiars, or assistants. But they can also be turned against their creator-"

Inuyasha snorted. He sat down in his usual position, but his eyes were distant.

They were also gleaming.

"-; and so must be carefully dealt with. Additionally, the creator's strength powers the shikigami. This link can drain the onmyouji, so the number of shikigami is limited. Even the strongest miko would have trouble maintaining more than a few."

"So, without any training, Kagome made five shikigami and released them. Five shikigami..." Sango murmured.

"And now four." Shippo observed.

"Are you sure there were only five?" Inuyasha questioned, darkly. "What if she made a whole army?"

The group was silent for a moment, contemplating the ramifications of a battalion of Kagomes. A chattering phalanx, armed with bow and arrow and _osuwari._

No one slept well that night.


	6. Chapter six

Revised a bit: I can't leave well enough alone.

* * *

Disclaimer: disclaimed. 

_

* * *

Inuyasha beat down the nervous whirling in his gut. It felt like Shippo had lifted a flap of his ribs, spun a lead top inside, and stitched the flesh back together. The little runt must've thrown a few rocks in, too. Maybe a thistle. His brows knit together blackly and he jammed his hands in his sleeves. Growling softly, he glowered at the offending, if lush, grass surrounding the Goshinboku. The grass, having more common sense than the hanyou, ignored him._

_He was pinned to the trunk. The arrow poked jauntily out of his chest, right about where his heart was. Digging his feet irritably into the bark, he huffed. Where was that girl, anyway? It seemed as if he was always waiting for Kagome. Waiting for her at the well, waiting for her at her school, waiting for her to realize-- well, anyway, he was tired of waiting. So if what the shikigami said was true... _

_ And then she was there, in her old school uniform, crimson obi around her waist. Her hair was loose. He felt his face slacken. As she looked at him with lovely, lovely concern, she called his name and lightly darted to the tree. Stretching up on her toes, back arched-- oh yes-- she reached for him--_

_And fondled his ears._

_Desperately trying to force the situation back into submission, Inuyasha blurted out the first thing that came to mind._

_"Oi!"_

_Kagome snapped her hands back and froze, uncertainty wrinkling across her nose. Clapping his hands over his ears, he growled at himself. Stupid, stupid. There had to be a better way to go about this. At the sound of his growl, Kagome's nose went from wrinkled uncertainty to tilted indignation. _

_Reaching for her, he nearly snarled as she pulled back out of range. "Listen, Kagome, there's-- I wanted to see-- dammit, gimmie your hand."_

_"What?" Oh, he did enjoy her voice. Unfortunately, it was on the verge of that nagging pitch that never failed to unnerve him._

_Well, Plan A had seemed like a good idea. Apparently it wasn't. So he went to Plan B-- which was really the same as Plan A, but involved force._

_Inuyasha lunged for Kagome's left hand at the same moment she withdrew it. The arrow was pressing him back against the tree, but of course his reflexes were faster. His claws seized her tiny wrist. They both froze for a moment, blazing gold-amber locked with icy blue-gray. A grunting tug-of-war ensued. Why couldn't she just hold still for one minute? Why did she always, _always_ have to confront him like this? Couldn't she just give in for one stupid _second?_ The frustrated hanyou planted one foot on Kagome's shoulder and spat, "Give me your hand!" _

_"No! Leggo of me!" Bracing her feet against the Goshinboku, Kagome beat her free hand against Inuyasha's ankle. He shook her by her imprisoned wrist, and her feet slipped against the bark. Yelping, she abandoned her assault on his foot and grabbed the arrow for leverage. _

_Which, of course, fizzled into purple haze. _

_Which, of course, sent them both sliding to the ground, Inuyasha on top of Kagome. _

_Which, as he froze for a moment, wasn't all bad. He squirmed experimentally, face in her hair. She squeaked. _

This, my boy_, a distant voice of reason noted,_ is a very interesting situation._ His body, in and of itself, was speechless. _

_Until Kagome's fist connected solidly with his nose. Cursing followed._

Where_, Inuyasha thought around the bright black haze constricting his vision, _had she learned_ that?_

_He staggered to his feet, bracing one hand on his knee and digging his toes in the loam for purchase. He was somewhat surprised to find he still had Kagome's hand gripped in his, despite her verbal harangue and continued tugging, which had the same effect as a brush in his hair. Which is to say, none._

_Things were not going the way he wanted. He'd had enough. Still latched onto the hand in question, Inuyasha turned his back on a still cacophonic Kagome, tucking her arm beneath his shoulder and immobilizing her spastic appendage. _

_"Gotcha." With irritated satisfaction, he slipped something heavy and warm on her third finger. He suddenly released her in the middle of a tug, and she overbalanced, landing on her derriere._

_"Inuyasha, you idi-- oh." She looked at the new weight on her finger. _

_It was dull gray, wide and solid. It looked like a lug nut with the edges melted down. Inuyasha watched Kagome's face intently. _

_"It's a ring." Inuyasha scowled at her expression. He hadn't been expecting cartwheels, but-- "I had Totosai make it especially for you." As she stared at him, then at the ring, then at him again, his mood shifted pleasantly toward smug. This was more like it. "Now everyone in your time will know you're off-limits."_

_"WHAT?"_

_"That's what Souta said, anyway."_

_"I'll kill him," Kagome gritted out from between clenched teeth. Now on her feet, she grabbed the ring and pulled. It didn't budge. _

_She shot daggers at the discomfited hanyou. "I know my fingers didn't suddenly swell up. Why won't it come off?"_

_Kouga's scent wafted insolently past his nose, mocking him. Kagome's red obi had mutated into a dirty belt of brown fur. _

_Inuyasha felt betrayed. And, as usual when his emotions rode high, his mouth outran his brain. Left it in the dust, really._

_"Weren't you listening? I told you, I had Totosai make it. It'll never come off." He turned his back on her, fists up his sleeves. "Deal with it." There was a rushing sound in the distance, like a small whirlwind._

_"Inuyasha, _SIT!"

* * *

Inuyasha dug his fingers into the cold, hard ground. As cold as Kagome's heart. Which was odd, since he had last remembered settling in for the night in a tree. Blinking dirt away from his eyes, he focused on a pair of rather unkempt feet. 

Damn wolf.

Damn dream.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he muttered to the clawed toes. They flexed at him, and then one foot, toes included, came very rapidly towards his head.

Inuyasha had a brief glance at the fading stars before he found himself in a similar position as a moment ago, except this time on his back. Well, mostly on his back. Some of his weight lay on his head and neck. It was worse than painful; it was _humiliating._ His feet twitched in the air for a moment, and then he flipped into a crouch. That stinking wolf was _dead._

Kouga, however, was facing a clear-eyed Sango and a bleary-eyed Miroku. Both were still seated, blankets in two little heaps around their legs, staring worriedly at Inuyasha. Shippo was still a small furry lump. Not that that ever changed. Kouga sighed noisily at their disregard. "I _said_, where's Kagome?"

And the first thing he asked about was Kagome? _How dare he give me the brush-off!_

Inuyasha sprang at Kouga's back, exulting furiously as he made solid contact, he and Kouga clearing Miroku's head by a good six inches. They spun into the long grass until Inuyasha got an earful of elbow. He growled and shook his head, leaping away from Kouga's roundhouse kick, and drove in with his fist. Kouga blocked with a forearm, his eyes narrowed and his mouth a thin line. Inuyasha's mouth, however, was wide open.

"You stinkin' creep!" Inuyasha spat. "Why don't you go chase your tail, you--" and Kouga closed the hanyou's mouth with his knuckles. Inuyasha slid to a halt a few feet away, jerked to his feet, and launched himself again into the fray.

"Inuyasha," Sango's voice floated by in not-so-subtle curiosity, "do you know where Kagome is?"

"Yes, Inuyasha," Miroku said firmly. "_Kagome_." The monk was standing next to Sango. The two of them eyed their friend meaningfully.

"No. And I don't care." Only the words were a little muffled, since Kouga's shin was in the way.

Kouga leapt back. "So, finally admitted she's mine, huh? About time." He stood for a moment, hand on hip, preening. Inuyasha slugged him.

"Shut up! You don't know nothin' about what's going on--"

"Inuyasha." Sango warned. Miroku, however, let his staff speak for him. It practically shouted, in fact.

Inuyasha, for the second time that morning, had a brief glance at the growing light of the sky. It was going to be a really beautiful morning, but an extremely bad day.

* * *

Kagome woke with a start. She stared in stupefaction at the dark trees surrounding her, blinking wearily. Slowly memory returned. 

_A, aorange. B, borange. C, corange. D--_

And then she had grabbed Love's poem and shredded it. Love had stood in shock as Imp attempted to restrain Kagome, who then turned on her, finger jabbing Imp repeatedly just below her neck, offering a steady punctuation to her virulence. When Love intervened, Kagome had stomped on the shreds of poem, turned her back on the whole crew, and sat down for a good sulk.

Unfortunately for her pride, she'd promptly fallen asleep.

Kagome groaned. Why couldn't she get along with herself? She was usually such a people person, really. The whole circle of friends, even Joho. Hojo. Whatever. She yawned politely into her hand.

She twisted to look for the others. She discovered she was one corner of a square, the others with their stiff backs to her. And they didn't look like they were reconciling any time soon.

Sighing, she extended her legs from the jacket where they had been tucked, turtle-like, from the night before. If only she had a nice shell to crawl into. Or a rock to crawl under. She really _had_ behaved badly last night.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry."

Three backs remained unmoved. She stood, stretched, and tucked her hands back into her jacket. It was still really chilly.

"C'mon. Don't be that way," she cajoled. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have shredded your poem. It was very, er, heartfelt."

Not a sound. Now it was _really_ chilly. Frigid, in fact.

"And I said some things I shouldn't have." Sighing, she walked over to the nearest shikigami and placed a hand on its shoulder. "C'mon, _please?" _

"You _said_ you were going to turn me into a pinata." Love's voice was sulky.

"I'm really sorry. Really! I guess it was just the whole mess from last night bubbling over. I mean, it's not every day that I see Inuyasha--" Kagome hesitated. Just like last night, the miko _knew_ she couldn't mention the kiss to Lust. She'd flip and demand equal rights. "Well, and then," Kagome waved her hands helplessly, "well, what Lust said. I kinda just snapped."

"You _snapped_."

"Right! So you see, it's really just a big misunderstanding, and I'd really like to put it behind us and just be friends, okay?"

"A _pinata!_ Do you know what they _do_ to pinatas?"

"Of course she does. That was the point." Imp looked over her shoulder at Kagome and grinned. Lust didn't speak, but stood slowly, brushed off her skirt, and strode toward the suddenly wary miko. Kagome put a nervous hand in her hair and plastered an integrating smile on her face.

"Kagome, you must remember that we're _you._ You're _us._ You're just getting angry with yourself." Lust came very close, nose to nose. "You love Inuyasha. There. I said it out loud. _So deal with it."_

"They hit them with sticks! _Sticks!"_

_"And now he knows you love him. So what," Lust held up a warning finger, "is the big problem?"_

"Until _candy_ falls out!"

Kagome sighed and buried her head in her hands. "He wasn't supposed to _know_ that I love him!"

"But he already knew. Sort of." Lust shrugged, dismissive.

"There is no 'sort of' with Inuyasha," Imp offered cheekily. "You have to hit him over the head with this kind of thing until he understands or falls unconscious--"

Kagome popped her head up to fix the shikigami with an anguished glare. "You never should have _told_ him!"

Turning away, Lust waved her hands in the air. "So, you expected him to say it first? Ha! You might as well fall in love with a stump! Or Sesshomaru!"

Imp leaned over to Love, muttering, "Looks like she'd prefer him unconscious."

"How am I supposed to face him now? He never even said he loved me!" Her head sank back to her hands, and Kagome sank back to the ground.

"Who said you have to face him? As far as he knows, you're just another scrap of paper," Imp suggested. Kagome raised her head, hopeful.

"Imp, that totally misses the whole point. We're trying to get these two," Lust brought her outstretched hands palm to palm, "together." She cast a critical eye over Kagome. "You really look beat. I'll go check out Inuyasha--"

"Hey!"

"--_on_ Inuyasha and the others while you two get her presentable. She needs to look more like herself. Ourself. Selves."

* * *

Inuyasha sulked at the edge of the meadow. Shafts of morning sunlight cut through the trees, shading the bronze grass in light and shadow. He, of course, stood in a shadow, frowning impatiently at Miroku. It was time to _go_. Kagome was back at Kaede's, tonight was the new moon, and Naraku was on the move, but _no_, the monk had to be all polite and stuff. The hanyou huffed. Miroku ignored him, too busy yakking to the stinking wolf. Inuyasha huffed louder. Miroku ignored him further. What was Miroku saying now? Was he offering the wolf--_ramen?_

Clenching his fists, he prepared to fight for his right to ramen.

"Hey, handsome."

Inuyasha jumped, legs and arms going six different directions. He spun to look behind him.

One of the shikigami was standing at the tree line, much too close for comfort. But she wasn't looking at him.

She was looking at Kouga.

_Really_ looking at Kouga.

Really _looking_ at Kouga.

He heard someone growling, and realized it was him. Again. He stopped.

Lust sashayed by Inuyasha, close enough to run her hand absently along his tense arm, patting his fist. She stopped by Miroku's side. Miroku covered his surprise, while Sango, Shippo, and Kirara watched in interest. Kouga also watched in interest.

Damn wolf.

"Kagome." Kouga sounded inordinately pleased. "You are as beautiful as ever." He moved to take the shikigami's hands in his, but Inuyasha was suddenly at her side. He wasn't sure how he had gotten there. But, satisfyingly enough, Kouga drew back and squared his shoulders, glaring at the hanyou.

"Back off, mutt," the wolf prince snapped. "This doesn't concern you."

Inuyasha, eyes closed, cocked his head to the side. "Geez, save a guy's life once-- no, twice. Three times? And he gets all bent out of shape--"

"I didn't need help from you, dog. I can take care of myself." His angry claim was slightly undermined by the panting arrival of Hakkaku and Ginta.

"Kouga!" The two staggered up to their prince's side and bent over, gasping, hands on knees. "Big sister!" They managed weak smiles for Lust.

"We don't have time for this," Inuyasha declared flatly. "C'mon, let's get going." He turned to leave.

"Kouga," Lust's voice stopped him in his tracks. It was just so... nice. "I'm very glad to see you, but why are you here?"

Inuyasha jerked his head around and glared at her. Kouga beamed. "Why, to make sure the mutt was taking care of you, of course." The wolf shrugged. "And my shards were acting up. So I just followed their pull--" He moved toward Lust again. This time Miroku interrupted.

"Lord Kouga has also sensed a darkness nearby, Kagome. He has generously offered his services for your protection. Perhaps we can come to an agreement--"

Inuyasha couldn't believe his twitching ears. An _agreement?_ With the _wolf? _He turned to take care of the interloper. 'Take care' meaning, of course, beating him to a pulp.

And then the shikigami placed her hand on Kouga's forearm, saying something that was lost in the sudden rushing noise in the hanyou's head. Stepping back to Miroku's side, she laughed lightly at something Kouga said. Inuyasha stood next to Miroku, fists clenched and eyes hidden. The others were giving him a wide berth, ignoring him pointedly. It wasn't Kagome drooling over Kouga, yet it _was_. He was confused. Confusion meant frustration. Frustration meant anger. The hanyou stewed in silence.

"...thank you for your consideration, Kouga." Miroku was really laying it on. At least the shards in the mangy, stinking, ugly wolf's legs would be handy when the hanyou decided to snap 'em open and pluck 'em out like seeds from an orange. Inuyasha felt himself relax a bit at the thought. A really juicy orange. He added some high-pitched screaming, and was really beginning to enjoy himself. Listening to Miroku with half an ear, he idly noted that the monk seemed to be wrapping things up. "...honoring us. You would be a great help in any confro-_ahi!"_

Miroku, mouth still open, was rigid, eyes wide. Slowly, his neck lost its stiffness and he looked incredulously at the dark-haired shikigami next to him. Lust studiously avoided eye contact, radiating innocence and purity, while simultaneously bringing her hand out from the folds of the monk's robe.

Sango's lip twitched. Kouga glowered, and seemed to be sizing the monk up.

Inuyasha, however, saw no humor in the situation. Not only had he recently not-really kissed her-- well, one of them, anyway-- but she'd also just grabbed Miroku firmly on his...whatever.

_What in the world did Kagome draw on that paper?_

Kouga sidled up to Lust, elbowing the stunned Miroku aside. "He's not worth your time, you know."

Inuyasha heard Hakkaku whisper to Ginta, "Kinda fickle, isn't she?"

"I'd really be a much better man than some guy in a dress." Kouga took Lust's hands in his own. "You know you're the _only_ woman for me."

Sango began to cough. Inuyasha snorted. "She ain't interested in you, wimp."

Lust shot him a cutting glare. "Says who?" Like magic, the glare transformed into a flirtatious gaze, aimed dead at the wolf. "What exactly are you saying, Kouga?"

"Kagome, you are unlike any woman I've ever met." Sango's cough worsened, sounding slightly strangled. She waved Shippo's offer of water away, while Miroku moved to pat her solicitously on her back. His eyes were still a little wild, and Inuyasha noticed he kept Sango between Lust and himself. Kouga continued, "And you know that I want you to be my woman. Dump the dog and say you will."

"Hey!" Inuyasha snarled. They ignored him.

Lust actually batted her eyes at the wolf. "Why, Kouga, I had absolutely _no_ idea--"

Hakkaku whispered to Ginta again, "But he's been after her for the last four years!" Ginta looked at his cohort and shrugged.

"--but I really can't commit to anything until we've defeated Naraku."

Kouga grinned. "Then I'll see ya tomorrow!" He turned away from Lust, cockily waving at her over his shoulder as he burst into a whirlwind. It happened to speed right over Inuyasha.

"Kouga! Wait for us!"

For the fourth time that morning, Inuyasha blinked dirt from his eyes. Lust, arms akimbo, was grinning at the tattered remnants of the group. Sango was still choking, but it had grown to a suspiciously high pitch. Shippo was shoving water at her, and Miroku was standing behind Sango like a dazed rabbit. Inuyasha climbed to his feet, scowling. A footprint adorned the front of his haori.

Kirara calmly groomed herself by the fire.

Clapping her hands together, Lust announced, "My work here is done." And with that, she turned and slipped back into the forest.

* * *

As the sun rose, Kagome sat on her rock and waited impatiently for Lust to return. She felt extremely uncomfortable letting that particular incarnation out of her sight, but it seemed there was no controlling her. The miko wrapped her jacket tighter. That shikigami was just so... overwhelming. 

She really didn't want to think about why.

Imp and Love were sitting at her feet, discussing the coming night. Kagome forced herself to concentrate on what they were saying.

"-- Inuyasha, when he's human, is going to know Kagome is Kagome." Imp sounded worried. "He's probably going to be pretty upset that we tricked him, and that may set back the whole thing--"

"But he loves her," Love stated confidently. "I know he does. So I don't think he'll care, now that he knows how we feel."

_"I feel," Kagome said firmly. "But he hasn't said he loves--"_

Love waved her off. "Whatever. He does. So I don't know why you guys are so upset."

Imp twisted her fingers together. "But what if he's _really_ mad? What if he just..." She waved her hands, at a loss for words to describe an angry hanyou.

"Look, he's not going to find out," Kagome stated. "I'm supposed to be waiting at Kaede's, right? So when we get there, I will be." _And I can conveniently be ignorant of this whole episode. I'll know that he knows that I love him, but he won't know that I know he knows. So if he doesn't say anything, then I guess I'll know..._

Imp looked askance at the miko. "Lemme guess. You'll run ahead and get there before we do, huh? I know Inuyasha isn't quick on the uptake sometimes, but he _can_ count. He'll notice one of us missing."

"Not if all of us are missing. We're all supposed to be shikigami, aren't we? So we'll just, pfffft, disappear."

"Where will the rest of us go?" Love asked.

Kagome hesitated. She hadn't quite thought that far. "Well, maybe we can just make that up as we go along."

Imp suggested, "We could go down the well."

"No!" Kagome nearly shouted. She forced a reassuring smile. "I mean, that wouldn't be a good idea. We've already created enough problems here without my family getting involved."

"Problems?" Love said, affronted. "I'd like to think we're the solution to the big Inuyasha-shaped problem you already had."

Kagome pinched the bridge of her nose. "Listen--"

Lust came dancing into the clearing, practically on air. Kagome caught her eye. Lust twirled, and pointed at her. "Oh, are _you_ going to have some explaining to do. And how."

Kagome felt her eye twitch. "What have you done _now?"_

"Oh, you'll find out." Lust smiled brilliantly.

"What did you _do?"_

"Nothing much. But now if Inuyasha wants you, he's going to have competition."

"I don't want to know," Kagome tried to convince herself. Her voice sounded hysterically high to her ears. "I _don't _want to know."

Lust patted her. "It's not anything you can't handle. He'll just have to figure out how he feels that much faster, unless he wants Kouga to run off with you."

Kagome gripped her hair and stared at the self-satisfied shikigami. "You didn't-- I _don't_ want to know."

"So did I miss anything? If not, let's get back to the others."

"We were just discussing getting to Kaede's tonight," Love said, rising. "Kagome has suggested we all disappear, while she runs ahead."

Lust waved her off. "Don't worry about it. Naraku will probably do us all in before we get there."

Imp abruptly changed the subject, her tone curious. "Why do you think Kaede or Miroku couldn't tell we were shikigami?"

Love shrugged and helped her fellow incarnation to her feet. "They're not infallible. Miroku hasn't figured out the demon-as-beautiful-girl routine once or twice."

Lust grinned and began counting on her fingers. "The praying mantis demon, the dead princess that cracked Hiraikotsu, likewise dead princess that ate 99 monks, the snow nun, the cat thing, that whole village of possessed women, and let's not forget his own grandfather was tricked by Naraku in drag."

Kagome came to the monk's defense. "But he usually fights back. Miroku isn't one to take these things lying down."

"Not alone, at least." Lust winked. "Anyway, sometimes I think he doesn't _want_ to figure it out. I think he likes the danger aspect. It's kinky. I think that's why he likes Sango so much-- hey, maybe if Sango lent you Hiraikotsu..." She trailed off, staring absently at Kagome.

Love rolled her eyes at Lust and shook her head. "Sorry. She's easily distracted by, um, things. Whatever you do, don't ask her what she was thinking. If you value your modesty, anyway." Continuing where Lust had left off, Love explained, "we're too big to really get a feel for us, if that makes any sense. It's the same reason people in Tokyo can't see Japan."

"Ah, they can't see the forest for the trees!" Imp exclaimed happily. "Our soul is just too big!"

"...or maybe if we get you a tattoo..." Lust continued, thoughtfully, "Or handcuffs. The cute, fuzzy kind..."

"Anyway, Kaede's going to be really surprised when we all show up at her doorstep." Imp snickered. "Again."

Kagome groaned, and shrugged out of her jacket. "And again. I saw her later that morning. She must think she's insane."

"Or you are."

"Stop that."

Imp spread her hands wide and grinned. "I can't! But I can't wait to see her face. It'll be better than yours when Inuyasha kissed me. Now _that_ was priceless."

A sudden and terrible silence swamped the clearing. Kagome stared very hard at the ground, trying her best to be invisible. _Don't panic,_ she mentally chanted. _Don't panic, don't panic, don't--_

Lust spoke, carefully. "_What_ did you say."

Imp panicked.

"I mean, it's not like it was a _real_ kiss, I mean we really kissed, but not _really_, you know? He just kinda grabbed me and mashed our faces together and took off--

Lust's eyes widened.

"No no no, _ran _off. He ran off. It was while you and Love were hanging onto Kagome 'cause I was gonna tell Inuyasha that we love him--"

Lust exploded. "Why did _you_ get to kiss him and _I _didn't!" She turned on Kagome. "After he and Love had a little _snuggle, _didn't _you_ say no one touches Inuyasha!"

Imp and Love scrambled for cover behind the miko. Kagome's back stiffened. "It's not like that. He just--"

"I don't _care! _When is it _my_ turn!"

"Listen, it's _not like that--"_

_"It's not fair!"_

Kagome jutted her head forward as her voice rose. "Oh, cool off! It's not like I got any action either--" Her jaw dropped and she covered her mouth. Had she just referred to... _action?_

Lust, thankfully, didn't notice the slip. She stabbed a finger at the other shikigami, each peeking from behind Kagome. "He held _you_ and he kissed _you_. What did _I_ get?"

Imp piped, "Irritated."

Lust speared Kagome with a long, frustrated glare. Kagome thought she almost saw tears. Then Lust whirled away, muttering, "You... you _jerks!_"

The three watched the angry shikigami disappear into the trees. The two remaining shikigami cautiously crept from behind Kagome's back and peered questioningly at her.

"Well?" Imp prompted.

"Well what?"

"What do we do now?"

"You're asking _me?_"

They smiled trustingly at her_. "You _created us. _She's_ been repressed for so long that she just comes on stronger than we do. So she kinda took charge. But now," Love patted her hand reassuringly, "what do _you_ want to do?"

It looked like the situation was back in her hands. All six of them. Kagome sighed.

"Let's all go back to camp and give her a minute to calm down. She'll probably have plenty of time--," she felt a sickening drop in her empty stomach, "because I'll have some explaining to do."

But when Kagome and the two shikigami cautiously returned to the clearing, everything was calm. Sango, Kirara on her shoulder, was serenely heating water for tea, although she glanced at the monk with twinkling eyes. Miroku and Shippo munched on dried fruit. Well, Shippo munched, anyway. Miroku simply took a bite and then went still, staring at nothing. Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. If Lust had upset him, Kagome surmised, then he must be up in a tree somewhere.

"Hey," she greeted the group. The smell of Sango's tea churned her already nervous stomach. The curious eyes suddenly fixed on her didn't help, either.

She went for innocent. "What?"

Miroku shook himself to life. "Ah, Kag-- ladies. I trust you slept well?" He rose, eyeing them warily, staff gripped tightly in his hand. Sango offered tea, which was declined, and Shippo trotted towards them as the three approached the fire.

"Where were you last night?" he queried. "I had to share Sango with Kirara." Love made the appropriate sympathetic noises. "And then Kouga and Inuyasha got in a fight--"

"Kouga really was here?" And Inuyasha wasn't. This did not bode well. Kagome knelt next to her bag, quickly stuffing the jacket in among the ramen. "Where's Lust?"

Miroku flinched. Sango answered, "She went to get you. Didn't you see her?"

"Yeah, but then she left." No need to mention the gory details. She rose and grabbed the nearest shikigami, dragging her apart from the group. "Where did she go?" Kagome hissed.

Kagome watched in fascination as the shikigami's gaze turned inward. Imp's face turned pale, and her eyes widened.

"Crap on a cracker."

"What?"

"She's with him."

"Who?"

"Lust. She's with Kouga."

"_WHAT?"_

Heads swiveled. Kagome grabbed her backpack, handing her bow and quiver to Imp. Sango, responding to Kagome's urgency, dumped

the water over the fire and hefted hiraikotsu. Kirara stood ready by her feet. Shippo leapt to Miroku's shoulder, while the monk watched

the shikigami with equanimity.

"Do you mind telling us what's going on?" Miroku asked, managing to sound aggrieved, wary, and curious together.

"Don't worry about it," Kagome spat. "We'll take care of it."

"Lust ran off with Kouga," Imp cheerfully replied. "Can I really carry the bow?"

"Sure. Why not?" Kagome shrugged, distracted. "Which way did they go?"

Love stared at Kagome. "You're giving our bow to _her?_ The only safe place to be when she's firing is right behind her! And even then it's iffy!"

"She did fine yesterday--"

"That was a fluke!"

"Which way did they _go?"_

"Ladies, if you don't mind," Miroku interrupted smoothly. He shook his staff, rings jingling. "We must leave immediately. Kouga may take advantage of the shikigami the first chance he gets. He _must_ be stopped from such perversion."

Sango, Shippo, and three Kagomes froze.

Miroku glanced at them and sighed, head lowered, staff on his slumped shoulder. "Please. There's more to me than a groping hand and a handsome face."

"Not by much." Shippo muttered.

"Agreed," nodded Sango.

Miroku popped his head up and eyed the slayer. "So you finally admit I'm handsome." He placed a hand over his heart. "Dearest Sango, may I take this opportunity to ask once again--"

"Oi! We're burning daylight here!" Inuyasha landed in the middle of the meadow. Kagome abruptly felt her priorities shift, and she watched the hanyou carefully for any little hint of last night's events.

"You guys are even slower than Kagome, and I didn't think that was possible. Quit flapping your lips and let's get going."

She didn't want _that_ big a hint.

"But Kouga--" Shippo began.

Inuyasha held out a hand. "Yeah, yeah, I _heard_. Stupid and stupider ran off together. So what?"

Kagome felt a tight pang in her chest. She couldn't tell if this was irritable-Inuyasha-hiding-emotions or just plain old irritable Inuyasha. And even if it wasn't _her _with Kouga, shouldn't he at least _care? _She tilted her chin up a notch and commanded in a clear tone, "C'mon, guys. We can't let Kouga think he's won."

Love nodded. Imp looked at Kagome questioningly, but fell in line as Kagome turned to go.

"Whaddya mean, won?" Inuyasha growled at her back.

"Oh, nothing. Just if Kouga thinks Kagome dumped you, then he's won, hasn't he?" She knew it wasn't nice to play on the jerk's pride, but Inuyasha wasn't nice. So it was fair. Sort of. "But since you _don't care--_"

"You're as bad as she is! And I told you-- I don't like her that way! _So get off my back!"_

Kagome felt her eyes sting. She was glad her back was already to the group.

"Stupid jerk. Stupid, stupid jerk," Kagome muttered, blinking away angry tears. She kicked at a ripe tuft of thistle as she passed into the trees. It burst into a white, clingy mess. She didn't feel any better. In fact, she felt exponentially worse.

The miko marched back onto the dusty path to Kaede's village and stopped abruptly. The two shikigami bumped into her.

"Uh," she muttered to Love, "which way did they go?" Love rolled her eyes and took the lead, cutting across the trail before climbing up the embankment. Kagome clambered after her while Imp trotted along behind. She couldn't imagine things getting any worse between her and Inuyasha, but then again, she could be wrong.

She just didn't know how wrong.

* * *

Inuyasha trailed along behind Shippo, who trailed behind Sango and Kirara, who trailed behind Miroku. Kaede's wasn't too far, and it was still mid-morning. They were all giving him the silent treatment, but he didn't care. It was nice, in fact, to finally have some peace and quiet. 

Lots of peace and quiet.

"It's not like it was Kagome, anyway," he grumbled. "She's at Kaede's."

Loads of peace and quiet.

"And those things are nothing but trouble. Kouga deserves whatever he gets." But he didn't sound convincing, even to himself. He scratched one ear as he walked. "Who wants little pieces of Kagome wandering around?" he asked, rhetorically. Maybe the rest of them didn't mind, but he wanted the real thing. Especially now that he knew she... well, that she had _feelings_ for him. A little of his miko just wouldn't be enough.

Of course, if she ever found out some of the stuff he'd said about her, he had no doubt a little of her would be more than enough. A little angry Kagome went a long way. But her eyes sure sparked when she was angry.

After that mental image, Inuyasha's thoughts degenerated. He was enjoying most of them. So much, in fact, that the voice of the monk startled him out of a particularly nice daydream. A daydream that involved Kagome _and _ramen. He scowled.

"Inuyasha," Miroku volunteered casually, "did you know one of the shikigami actually _is_ Kagome?" The monk ignored the combined intake of breath.

_"What?"_

Miroku continued his leisurely stroll. "If you'll take a moment to _think,_ you'll remember only one of the shikigami was cold last night. Only one of the shikigami refused to give her name. Only one of the shikigami couldn't sense the location of the others."

Shippo jumped with excitement. "Then she's all right!"

Miroku held up a warning hand. "But now _all_ the shikigami are with Kouga." He turned to see how Inuyasha took the news.

But the hanyou was already gone.

* * *

Kagome peeked around an ancient elm. She knew Lust could sense them out here, but Kagome couldn't get her to come out of the woods alone. And she really didn't want to explain things to Kouga. Knowing him, he'd take it as another reason to add her abilities to his. But Kouga and Lust were together somewhere just ahead, and Hakkaku, Ginta, and whatever wolves they were traveling with were somewhere just behind. She tried very hard to not imagine what Kouga and Lust were up to. 

It was, all in all, an uncomfortable place to be.

The two shikigami, however, handled the situation with a certain air of insouciance. They were confident in their abilities to remain undetected, and were discussing what token of love Inuyasha would bestow on their creator, despite the fact that her clone and Kouga could be lip locked right now.

Very uncomfortable.

"-- and I doubt Inuyasha will get down on one knee and propose with a ring. He's more likely to drag her off to some cave."

"Well, considering how dogs usually mark their territory, she'd better be happy with anything he gives her," Imp snickered. "Even if it's a love bite."

Love rolled her eyes. "Right. A love bite." She waved her hands expansively. "'Cause nothing says 'I love you' like a scar."

Imp giggled. "Hey, why not? Diamonds are forever, right? Well, so's a scar."

"That has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"Would you two be quiet?" Kagome whispered fiercely. "You're going to blow our cover!"

"Relax. The situation is under control." Love's gaze once again turned inward. "There's no one arou-- oh, crap."

Kagome groaned. "Inuyasha's coming, isn't he?"

"How'd you guess?"

Kouga tore from the trees ahead at the same moment the hanyou dropped from the sky. Inuyasha instantly grabbed the wolf by his arm and flung him into Kagome's elm. The tree shuddered. Leaves and spinning seeds rained down on the three. Kagome felt her hair stand on end, but the two rivals were entirely focused on each other.

Inuyasha leapt toward Kouga and caught him by the throat. He slammed the wolf into the elm again, but this time Kouga shot both legs into Inuyasha's gut. The hanyou flew through a stand of saplings. Jumping at Inuyasha, Kouga drove his heel into the ground as Inuyasha rolled to his feet. Drawing back his claws, the hanyou snarled, "Tell me where she is, you mangy--"

"Kouga!" Ginta came pelting out of the trees, eyes wide with undisguised terror. He grabbed Kouga's shoulders, and was quickly batted off. "You have to stop her!"

"Stop who?"

"Big sister! She's-- oh, it's awful!"

"Shut up and tell me what's going on."

"She's--

At that point a disturbance scattered wolves from among the underbrush. Lust strode out, slightly disheveled. "Get back here, Kouga! Be a _man!_"

Kagome actually felt Kouga flinch. Inuyasha stared.

"Kagome, this isn't really the time--" the wolf began. The shikigami, entirely ignoring Inuyasha, silenced Kouga with a kiss.

Kagome's jaw dropped in horror. Kouga was kissing her.

_Really_ kissing her. Hand on waist, hand in hair, everything.

And. She. Was. Kissing. Him. Back.

Frozen, she watched as Kouga's near hand drifted up. And the far hand drifted down.

_And then _her_ hands moved-- oh my g--_

A gust burst past the couple, red and white. It came to a stop just beyond them in the form of Inuyasha.

Kouga drew back from the kiss, looking a bit dazed. Then he scowled at the hanyou. "What do you want, mutt? Can't you see you're not wanted?"

Inuyasha snarled at him. The Kagome in Kouga's arms murmured something, sighed, and fell into five scraps of paper.

Kagome felt a little faint. Inuyasha had ripped her apart. _Inuyasha had ripped her apart._


	7. Chapter 7 revised

Disclaimer: disclaimed.

* * *

_Weren't trees supposed to _produce_ oxygen?_ Instead, they smashed softly around Kagome, shooting dizzyingly up into the early afternoon. Shock sealed the air from her lungs, and through the dappled sunlight she watched the shikigami, watched _herself_ flutter to the forest floor. Her backpack slid off her limp shoulders, and she swayed slightly. Or maybe that was the forest again. She placed one hand on the trembling bark of the elm to steady it. 

Inuyasha had ripped her to pieces.

Kagome's brain took a large step back from the rather awkward situation outside her body. Her stomach gave serious consideration to following as well.

She snapped out of her reverie when a warm hand wrapped tightly around her upper arm. Said hand spun her until she was eye-to-eye with a furious hanyou.

"What were you _thinking?"_ Inuyasha bit out the words. "Or were you thinking _at all?"_

He had ripped _her _to pieces

In a fit of nervous energy she stretched away from him, shock still coursing through her. She hadn't felt like this around Inuyasha for… well, ever. It wasn't exactly fear.

But it was close enough.

He was looking at her oddly, with a mixture of confusion and anger. At her continued silence, his fingers tightened slightly on her arm, and he growled low in his throat.

She hurriedly broke eye contact with him, glancing from side to side. Where were the others? Kagome attempted to peel his fingers off her arm, but her hands shook. Her fingers were weak. His hand seemed very big, or her arm seemed very small.

Inuyasha hadn't even hesitated.

She spotted the two remaining shikigami; Love was still crouched behind the elm, eyes wide with slowly fading shock. Imp was sprawled next to her double, eyes narrowed with quickly building anger.

Kagome sucked in a shallow mouthful of air. The sight of herself—herselves-- was bizarrely reassuring. _Okay, Kagome,_ she soothed,_ Inuyasha didn't really shred _you_. He thinks we're all just paper. Just plain old notebook paper. He wouldn't hurt you. _Her heart resumed beating a rough rhythm against her ribs, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

_He'd never hurt you._

However, hurting _him_ was suddenly becoming a very attractive option. She took a deep, steadying breath and stopped plucking uselessly at the hanyou's fingers.

"You _weren't _thinking, huh? As usual! When are you gonna start using that lump on your shoulders for more than--"

Abandoning the reins on her temper, Kagome cocked her hip like a shotgun and thrust a finger under Inuyasha's nose. "Don't you _even_-"

"Count to ten, count to ten!" Love chanted encouragingly at her from the safety of the elm.

"Use the beads, use the beads!" Imp yelled, still sprawled by Love

"Count to twenty!"

"Just forget it," Kagome, muttered to Love, to Imp, but mostly to Inuyasha. She tugged her arm pointedly.

"No way," he snapped, tugging back. "I want one big explanation, and your little 'sorry' ain't gonna cut it this time." He began towing her away from the elm, kicking aside the undergrowth.

"I don't know _why_ she kissed—"

"That's _not_—"

Their progress was cut short by high-pitched screaming. Hakkaku and Ginta, clinging to each other, pointed at their recently deceased and currently alive sister-in-arms, claws trembling.

Imp stood up, eyes flashing at Inuyasha. There was another squealing scream.

Love stepped uncertainly from behind the elm, eyes trained on the hanyou and the miko. In one motion, Kouga popped both pack mates across the back of their skulls.

At that moment Kagome heard the unmistakable crackle of fire and nearly melted with relief. She looked up to see three pair of concerned eyes peering over Kirara's back, the flames from the firecat's feet illuminating the trees like an overexposed negative.

"Is everyone okay?" Miroku queried, even before Kirara touched ground. His staff jingled with cheerful authority as his eyes took in the situation. He was obviously confused by the lack of blood, Kagome thought wryly. As the monk swung off the firecat, a brief squeeze brought her attention unpleasantly back to the matter at hand. Or hanyou at arm.

"This ain't over," Inuyasha growled, releasing her arm and moving away. Imp, in a childish fit of bravado, stuck her tongue out at his retreating back, and Kagome was rather glad he couldn't see it. He was over-reacting, really. Rubbing her arm, she wished he'd picked Imp or Love to yell at, instead of her. Although she should be thankful he hadn't tried to shred her as well. The result of _that_ would've surprised him, all right. Messily.

What if he _had_ tried to shred her?

_Let's not think about that right now,_ her suddenly cold innards urged. So she didn't. She was still watching as the hanyou stalk a few paces away, and was startled when he suddenly turned to glower at her with dark eyes. She frowned back at him. Why was he picking on her? Why not glare at someone else? It's not like _she'd_ done anything wrong. Well, not like he _knew_ she'd done anything wrong.

Unless…

_Aw, no_.

Hakkaku and Ginta, still gripping each other's shoulder, used their free hands to rub their respective heads. "Tell me when it's over..." Ginta whimpered. Kagome felt a sudden kinship with the confused, abused wolves.  
As Imp stood defiantly next to Kagome, glaring down anyone who dared look her way, Love stepped hesitantly to the miko's side. Kouga stared at the three, then at the doll-shaped scraps at his feet as if they'd just stood up and performed a miniature amputee kabuki. "So..." he began. His vocal chords balked, and he cleared his throat to start again. "So that Kagome was a shikigami the whole time?"

Miroku nodded, not a trace of humor on his face. "Yes, Kouga, she was a shikigami. They all are shikigami. Now you know." The monk closed his eyes, straightened his staff, and brought his beaded hand vertically in front of his chest. It looked like bizarre last rites for the paper scuttling through the leaves. "You are now a member of a very special circle. You must never speak of the secrets you have seen here."

Shippo leapt directly from Kirara to Kagome's shoulder. Patting her cheek, he whispered, "I'm really glad you're here." As this affection soothed Kagome's nerves, the kit continued, "Because Inuyasha won't be nearly as mean to me now."

It was nice to be needed, Kagome thought through her sudden gloom.

As the mood eased, Sango slipped from Kirara as well, and the firecat flared back into her normal form. However, Kagome noted, Sango kept a firm hold on Hiraikotsu, and Kirara's tails were twitching.

Kouga's tension began to melt, and Kagome could see the wheels in his head turning, albeit slowly. "They're all shikigami. Well," Kouga slapped his thighs and his voice returned to the usual brash volume, "That explains things."

The Kagomes bristled. But Inuyasha, who was still looking for a fight, beat them to the punch. "Explains what, wimp?"

"Why _else_ would she refuse to be my woman?"

"HEY!" three Kagomes and one Inuyasha exclaimed.

Kouga sniffed. Disregarding any thought for his personal safety, he looked disdainfully down his nose at the irate triplets. "You don't even _look_ like real women."

Kagome saw Imp's hands tense into semicircular claws that would've almost fit around the wolf's neck, if she'd squeezed really hard. "But _you_ just--" Imp sputtered. Love put a gentle hand on her companion's arm and murmured, "Ix-nay on the issing-kay--"

Hakkaku whimpered. "She's putting a curse on us—"

Kouga ignored them. "So where's the real Kagome?"

"Back at her home, most likely." Miroku had somehow maneuvered himself back to Sango's side. Given Inuyasha's current mood, he probably wanted someone who wasn't inclined to hurt him. Much. Kagome eyed Inuyasha surreptitiously, who had turned away from the group, hands in sleeves. He'd moved away, but not _that_ far away.

"Too close," she heard Imp mutter.

"Too far," Love whispered.

With a mental groan, Kagome watched the triangular white radar dishes flick back and forth. Talk about sending a mixed message. No wonder they had so much trouble communicating. If _she_ didn't know what she was thinking half the time, what hope did _he_ have?

Miroku, seeing Kouga eye the remaining shikigami, continued his blatantly honest misinformation. "We are given to understand she will be there this evening."

"Back at that village, huh? Well, that's where I was headed anyway. Something's not right there." In a thoughtful undertone, Kouga added, "My legs are getting itchy." He looked over at Hakkaku and Ginta, who had regained their composure if not their pride. "Change of plans, guys." He strode over to discuss current events, strategy, and, Kagome theorized from the wolf's practical attitude, what to eat for lunch.

Imp, arms crossed defensively, leaned into earshot and muttered, "Well, he certainly got over _that_ quickly, didn't he?"

Love placed a soft, supportive hand on Kagome's shoulder. "It's okay. It'll all be okay."

Kagome wasn't so sure.

* * *

"So you figured it out, huh?" Love smiled ruefully at Miroku, Sango and Shippo. She and Imp were perched on a fallen log, watching the three scour the ground for vestiges of Lust. Kicking her heels idly against the fallen tree, the shikigami continued, "I guess it _is_ pretty obvious. It was just a matter of time." 

Imp was remarkably subdued, picking at the flaking bark. The incarnation started as Shippo triumphantly held up another bit of paper, then she eyed the scrap moodily. Kagome watched the mercurial shikigami with dull curiosity. Somewhere she had the energy to figure out what was wrong with Imp, but she'd decided she didn't want to know. The miko turned back to her current occupation.

Kagome had started a weak cooking fire, and, after seeing the glint in her eye, the two shikigami were giving both their smoldering creator and her smoldering fire a wide berth. Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen, most likely also smoldering in some tree.

Kagome scowled, and continued to pour water into her trusty battered pot. With Inuyasha's absence, Kouga had volunteered to stick around for lunch. Hakkaku and Ginta had immediately volunteered to get water. Miroku had likewise immediately volunteered Kagome as a cook, waitress, and dishwasher.

"It's only fair," he had reasoned in the face of her indignation. "After all, you caused quite a bit of trouble with these shikigami. So until you decide to enlighten us-- _all_ of us-- on your reasons, we feel that this is suitable repayment for our troubles." The others had backed him up, mostly by refusing to make eye contact. Even Sango had given Hiraikotsu an intent inspection. Kagome had seen her mouth twitch. Twice.

Miroku had sounded as even and logical as her math professor. This didn't help his case at all, considering Kagome had often wanted to hit her professor, too.

Now, as she slaved away over a not-quite-hot fire, Miroku and Sango leaned eagerly over each new scrap. Considering this was Lust, Kagome didn't blame them for their interest in what made the shikigami tick. She herself only had a faint idea what could've been on that paper. Desperately digging into the disjointed regions of her memory, she tried to recall what might've influenced Lust-- before the others extrapolated something mortifying.

Thankfully, all that was left of the shikigami, the ragged shreds, didn't illuminate much. There were no holes, like the first shikigami had, but there were blue lines and swirls of ink. As they pieced it together, Kagome was treated to a helpful commentary on each dismembered section. There was a sketch or two that could have been triangular. Another, if you tilted your head and squinted, might have been something fuzzy. Or fluffy. Another looked like a hand with talons. Or just really long fingernails. Or maybe oden. Her brow wrinkled. She didn't remember oden.

"Kagome certainly wasn't a good artist." Shippo looked over the scraps with an experienced eye. Kagome shot the kitsune a dirty look across the smoky fire, but the kit didn't catch it. _Next time he asks for markers_, Kagome thought darkly, _I'm bringing disappearing ink._

Miroku nodded. "I think she was just sketching as the mood came to her."

Shippo patted the scraps. "I'll bet she was just bored and doodling in class."

Miroku snatched up what was once a paper leg. "Does this look like a staff? Or a robe?" He tilted it towards a hazy shaft of light, deliberately away from Sango. "Perhaps beads?"

Sango, who had thus far kept a valiant campaign of withholding judgment, stepped close to the monk's side, placing her fingers lightly next to his on the scrap. "Not at all, Houshi-sama." But she tilted it and stared hard, too. Then shook her head. "Not at all." Her eyes slid, deep and calculating, toward the shaded tree that held the half-demon. "More like… ears. Ears of some sort."

"Mmm. Hanyou ears."

And, with that, Kagome remembered. For the second time that morning her epiphany was combined with, _Aw, no._

"They're not ears!" Kagome's shrill voice cut across to the trio.

"Ah, of course. What, exactly, are they then, Kagome-sama?" Miroku called with overt politeness.

Now she was forced to participate in this very undesirable conversation. When would she learn to keep her mouth shut? "Um…"

"Yes?"

"It's a koala." None of them would know what a koala was. Good answer. She mentally placed a gold star next to her name.

Miroku absently fit two strips of paper together. "In hakama?"

"Actually, Miroku," Shippo offered, clambering up to the monk's shoulder, 'He looks like he's mostly _out_ of his hakama."

"Very observant."

A black x went next to the gold star. "That's not a hakama. Those are blue jeans."

"Filled in with red ink?"

"It's all I had at the time!"

"And yet, the rest of the sketch is in blue…"

Kagome decided discretion was the better part of valor. "You wouldn't understand," she muttered.

"But where's his shirt?" Shippo leapt down again and began hunting through fallen leaves. "I mean, he looks half-_naked."_

Sango shook her head. "That's because he _is_ half-naked. Really, Kagome-chan, this is quite shameful."

"You have no idea," the miko grumbled.

Shippo found another scrap, and as they jigsawed the full paper doll together there was a combined, "Ohhhhh." Sango added another "Oh," for emphasis, cheeks pink. Mirkou's eye twitched. Kagome wondered if she should make a run for it.

The trio looked scandalized, confused, and thoughtful, respectively. Kagome felt the veins in her neck throb with the rush of blood to her cheeks.

"I don't even remember drawing it," she defended lamely. Slightly under her breath, she added, "And the proper term is 'half-nude.'" She didn't know whether her face felt toasted from the fire or her mortification. Wasn't it time for someone else to be humiliated?

She stood up decisively, stalked over to the group, and snatched the pieces with both hands. With an offended tilt to her nose, she and her maligned dignity turned back to the fire. She thrust the paper into the weak flames. They smoked in a vaguely offended way.

"There," she stated flatly. Turning again to the trio, she stated firmly, "This never happened."

"Well, be careful, Kagome-chan. You wouldn't want to make certain people jealous." Sango's tone was carefully not amused.

"_This never happened."_

"Or flattered by the likeness," Love smiled, voice saturated with moral support.

"I'm not sure Inuyasha'd be _flattered,_ exactly…" Shippo hedged.

"Who said it was Inuyasha?" Kagome sputtered. The others ignored her.

"Well, he'd appreciate the effort, anyway," Love defended to the kitsune.

"I doubt it."

Kagome stared at the confetti as it slowly turned black before it slumped into ash. It bore a close resemblance to her personal life. How could they shrug off recent events so blithely? Inuyasha had ripped her likeness to shreds. He had moved so fast she hadn't even registered what had happened until Lust had fallen from Kouga's arms.

"But he loves her," Love continued, with confidence. "So he'd say he liked it just to make her happy."

"Make her happy!" Imp sputtered, snapping to her feet. She flung a hand toward the scraps. "We just _died!"_

_So _that's_ what was bothering her. Me. Us_.

Shippo, ever observant, said, "No, you didn't. You're right here. It's just like my doubles. Inuyasha's stomped on them lots of times." He leapt into the shikigami's arms, which automatically went from accusatory stiffness to cuddling softness.

Imp looked at him curiously. "And that's never bothered you?"

"Not really. He's stomped on _me_ lots of times, too."

"Well, she did kinda deserve it..."

Love shot Imp a stern look, then her eyes slid to Kagome's. "Nobody deserves that."

Sango nodded firmly. "Kagome-chan, we don't know why that shikigami did what she did, but you've always had good reasons for what _you_ do." She was still standing quite close to Miroku. Embroiled in her own web as she was, Kagome had a sudden realization: Miroku was chasing Sango until _she_ caught _him._

But why _had _Lust kissed Kouga? Knowing Lust—them—herselves, it went far beyond just getting even.

She felt another headache coming on, waved in by her predicament, and probably cheered on by an overdose of MSG. Sighing, she served lunch.

* * *

Kagome hadn't expected her question about Lust to be answered. Especially not so quickly, and especially not by Kouga. 

"Huh," Kouga had said, idly fingering the empty Styrofoam cup, "at least these things are handy." Kagome scowled at him, snatching the cup before his claws could pick the thing into tiny ecologically unsound chips.

Ginta nudged Hakkaku, who was still slurping. "Since when has Kouga been interested in cups?"

Kouga rolled a shoulder with impatience. "Not the cup. The shikigami. They cook, they clean, and they can see shards. They're just about perfect. Maybe we should get one of our own."

Kagome ground to a halt, midway through picking Shippo's empty cup from the kit's paws. _He did _not_ just say that._ Like she was some sort of home appliance—the Kagome 2005.

"Yeah, except for that whole 'made of paper' thing," Inuyasha said snidely. He had appeared just in time to snatch Shippo's extra cup, about which the kit was currently sulking. Now he stood apart from the group, arms crossed, a bright spot of angry red in the filtered shade. The simmering hanyou had avoided looking at Kagome since he returned. Kagome wasn't sure if she was thankful or resentful. Maybe both.

Imp looked over at the wolf prince, eyes flat. "_What_ did you just say?"

Kouga acted as if the shikigami hadn't spoken. "Yeah, that could be a problem. And they're not that bright."

"_What _did you say!"

Kouga finally looked at Imp. "See what I mean?"

Love restrained her incensed compatriot. As incomprehensible mutterings rolled from Imp, Kagome asked the wolf curiously, "Why do you say that?"

Inuyasha's ears twitched as Kouga answered, "Didn't you hear it? Last thing it said, before _he_ ruined it, was—odd. Didn't make any sense."

Before Kagome could question Kouga further, Inuyasha snapped, "Whad'ya mean, 'odd'?"

The wolf demon snorted, but answered, "Something about finding a green-eyed demon. And my eyes aren't green."

Inuyasha suddenly looked like he had a tightly wound spring inside his chest--the kind that had a boxing glove fastened to the end. Kagome's luck held true as the hanyou turned on her.

''_What green-eyed demon? _Who _else_ was that thing going for?"

Shippo wisely closed his eyes, covering them with his hands for good measure.

"Or maybe she said 'green-eyed monster," Kouga added as an afterthought, scratching a his chin. He was roundly ignored.

Kagome ground her teeth, wishing she had a certain hanyou's ear between her molars. "It's a _figure of speech! _She _meant _to make you _jealous_! And _that _wasn't _me!"_

"Not anymore, it ain't!"

Three wolf youkai, two humans, two shikigami, a fire cat and a wary kitsune looked on with interest.

"Yeah, 'cause you shredded me like last month's bank statement!"

Nine heads turned to Inuyasha.

"It's just a stupid paper doll! I didn't do anything wrong!"

Nine heads turned to Kagome.

"You _shredded_ me! How is that supposed to make me feel?"

Back to the hanyou.

"Who knows? And who _cares!_ It was just a _paper doll!_"

Back to the miko.

"You are _so_ insensitive!"

Kirara yawned.

"At least I'm not _insane!_"

Shippo, sensing the danger had passed, idly pulled his top from his vest.

"Yes you _are!"_

"No I'm _not!"_

Kouga watched the spinning top with distant interest.

_"Are!"_

_"Not!"_

Shippo let the wolf try. Miroku took bets.

"You—you mental_ pygmy!"_

"You stupid—_stupid!_"

Kouga nearly put Ginta's eye out. Miroku collected.

"_Just shut up!"_

Hakkaku laughed, and Ginta nearly put _his_ eye out.

_"Just tell me WHY—"_

A blinding light cut through the forest, a thin vertical wall that hung in the cool air for a moment before sinking into the ground. Someone gave a short scream. Kagome looked, and froze.

And froze, and froze, and froze.

Hakkaku was lying on the loam, surprised eyes staring into the treetops, top wobbling to a halt near his outstretched hand. Half of him, where the light had drawn a fine line across his abdomen, fell away. Kagome stared at wet bones and things that slid against each other. A faint drift of shorn hair settled across the ooze, hairy strawberry jam.

_How odd, _Kagome's distant, dry mind noted curiously, _I haven't had jam in months._

"Inuyasha," a cool voice cut across the ice in Kagome's brain, "you should pay more attention." Sesshomaru's tone held an utter lack of rebuke that, conversely, was like a backhand across the face. The taiyoukai sheathed his sword.

Inuyasha turned on his half-brother, Tetsusaiga drawn and humming with fury. _"What the he-"_

Miroku shifted his staff to block the hanyou. Inuyasha's brows furrowed, but he held off for a moment. Muttering something, he abruptly shoved Tetsusaiga back into the sheath with disgust.

Kouga just stared.

Sesshomaru walked silently toward the body. Kagome tensed. It just wasn't like Sesshomaru to kill things.

Okay, it _was_ like Sesshomaru to kill things.

The demon kicked lightly at Hakkaku. Kagome flinched, and took a step toward the demon that was adding insult to injury. Or injury to injury.

A hand on her arm, gentle this time, held her back. She glanced at Inuyasha, startled. He had somehow come to her side, hovering protectively. His eyes were narrowed, not looking at Sesshomaru but rather at his sword.

Hakkaku took a rattling breath.

"Get up," Sesshomaru commanded in a tone that emphasized just how patient he was not. He watched the wolf with flat eyes. Kagome shuddered, and felt the cool skin of her face tingle as blood returned.

Hakkaku sat up, hand to temple, while Kouga and the others watched in morbid fascination. Sure, she and her friends had seen this before, at Shippo's request no less. But to see Hakkaku, well, _dead--_

Although it _was_, admittedly, the quickest way to get everyone to shut up.

She wondered how long Sesshomaru had been standing there, waiting for them to notice him. Too long, apparently.

Evaluating the taiyoukai from under lowered brows, Kouga flexed his bicep. It looked like two bulldogs in a wet burlap sack. "What're you trying to prove, huh?"

Sesshomaru slid him a metallic eye that plainly said, _Could've been you._ Or maybe the look said, _Should've been you._

Ginta crouched next to his friend, nearly hysterical. "I didn't even smell him. I didn't even smell him..." Hakkaku punched him. Hard.

Kouga, however, was still eyeing the taiyoukai. It was rather nerve-wracking to see the two demons face off. However, Kouga finally nodded to Sesshomaru with a certain respectful familiarity, although Sesshomaru pointedly did not return the gesture. In fact, he simplified things by dismissing everyone except Inuyasha from his field of vision. He didn't even glance at the shikigami. Kagome began to breathe again, leaning slightly toward Inuyasha. She corrected herself abruptly, and the hanyou huffed.

"You coulda just _said_ something, you know," Inuyasha muttered.

"I did. Apparently your half-blood ears are dull, too."

Inuyasha went for his sword again. This time Hiraikotsu convinced him otherwise.

Kouga shrugged the incident off, casually saving face. "Well, no harm done, eh? Just be sure to bring your _real_ sword when Naraku shows up."

"Feh, that _is_ his real sword," Inuyasha muttered, rubbing his head. "Mouryoumaru snapped the other one."

"Am I the only one here who _hasn't _broken their weapon?"

"You don't _have_ a weapon, fleabag."

"Shows what _you_ know, furface."

"What, that tiny little sword? That couldn't pick my teeth."

"My Goraishi," Kouga growled, flexing his fingers, "could rip you apart. And I don't need a big sword to _compensate."_ He left the implication hanging, cracking his knuckles. Kagome, for a heartbeat, thought she caught the glint of metal along Kouga's claws.

"Inuyasha." Sesshomaru cut the argument short. "Naraku is near." He speared his half-brother with an intent gaze. "You will leave him to me."

"Fat chance."

"If you choose to interfere I will not hesitate. Tenseiga has become the greater sword."

"Feh," the hanyou spat, using the same tone he usually reserved for profanity.

"The dead miko and the boy are also nearby. Even if you, a hanyou, couldn't smell them, the wolves should have. Again, it would be wise if you were more aware of your surroundings." He didn't even glance at Hakkaku. Everyone else, though, did.

Kagome, along with the others, could only watch him walk away, hair the color of sea foam swaying slightly in the early afternoon.

"Kohaku," Sango whispered. Kagome glanced at her friend. The taijya, stiff, wiped her face blank as Miroku came up beside her. The monk carefully didn't offer his support, here in front of the others, and Sango gratefully didn't accept it.

"Where do you think he's going?" Shippo asked, voice hushed.

Miroku, who was usually on the other end of inflicting pomp and circumstance, noted quietly, "Kaede's village lies in that direction."

Sango nodded, eyes calm. "And, Kouga, you did mention you sensed something there. That's where your shards were leading you before you were—sidetracked."

Inuyasha snorted.

"Yeah," Kouga muttered, as his two followers hesitantly approached.

"Kouga, I really think we should be going," Ginta urged. Hakkaku still looked startled.

"Yeah," the wolf said again, with burgeoning confidence. "Someone has to protect the _real_ Kagome. See you at the village, muttbutt."

Hakkaku rubbed his stomach. "I'm hungry all of a sudden."

"That's because your lunch is all over the-- Kouga! Wait!"

* * *

As they walked along the narrow road to Kaede's, Kagome was unusually quiet. Imp, however, had seemingly buried her upset over The Shredding. Now her counterparts on either side were speculating on Sesshomaru's sudden appearance, sending Kagome into chattering high-school flashbacks. Miroku jingled ahead of them with Shippo perched on his shoulder like a deranged parrot. Sango followed a half-step behind. Everyone was listening, bemused, to the two shikigami gossip. _Like some warped talk radio show_, Kagome thought. '_Stay tuned for our next story! Demon Lord with a Heart: The Debate Rages On!'_

Inuyasha had leapt ahead without a word. Kagome firmly put him out of her mind. He immediately came back in through a pet door in her cerebellum.

"Maybe Sesshomaru's telling us to hurry up." Love said, voice thoughtful.

Imp looked dubious. "You think?"

Love nodded. "It makes sense. He'd rather fight Naraku as a group, but he won't ask."

Imp shrugged. "I dunno. That gives an entirely new meaning to "Speak softly, but carry a big stick."

"Sword."

"Whatever."

Kagome remained silent. She sealed up the urge to think about Inuyasha in a small box in her mind, then locked that box in a larger box, slapped some mental ofuda on it, and then pinned it to a tree. This new subject was a welcome distraction. There _was_ something going on here. If she could only piece it together—something connecting the demon lord with Kohaku. Sango's brother did need protection, carrying a shard as he did, but why would the taiyoukai concern himself? Apparently Sesshomaru didn't consider Kikyo suitable. Not that Kagura had been a role model, exactly, although she _had_ shielded Kohaku with her life—

_Oh. _

Kagura. Perhaps there had been something going on between the two demons, and this was Sesshomaru's odd way of remembering her.

A spawn of Naraku dating Sesshomaru? Ew. Not likely.

Still, somehow it didn't seem right to share this theory with the others. Who knows what would be blurted out in front of Sesshomaru, and then honor would be impugned, egos would be hurt, and heads would roll. And arms, and perhaps legs.

Shippo leaned backward over Miroku's shoulder, considering. "Maybe he just wants us around as a diversion." The others stopped, looking at him, eyebrows raised. The kit shrugged. "Well, it's what I would do. You know, 'better you than me.'"

"Hey!"

"Not _you,_ Kagome! I meant... uh.."

Miroku and Sango eyed the kit with vested interest.

"Yes, Shippo?" Sango encouraged.

The flustered kit jumped to the ground ahead and whirled to face them. Backpedaling furiously, he declared, "I'd defend you with my life! I will protect you no matter what!" He thumped his chest.

"Yes," Miroku nodded, sagely. "No matter what."

"Awww...Mi_ro_ku..."

"That's what I thought." The monk continued his even pace past the kitsune, rings on his staff clinking softly against one another.

"Shippo, I will keep this in mind next time you get gum stuck in your tail." Sango hefted Hiraikotsu higher on her shoulder, walking past him sedately. Kirara blinked her wide eyes at the kit, mewled, and with a tilt to her nose, trotted after the others.

"Awww…" Shippo groaned, cuddling his tail protectively. Sighing, he started after his friends. Kagome and the two shikigami, with a synchronized shake of the head, followed.

* * *

Inuyasha swung up to a higher branch, one that gave him a better view of the village. Whipping his hair out of his face, he tested the air. The wind wasn't carrying much scent his way, but the place seemed quiet. A few people were out and about—some kid carrying water, a geezer hustling back to gum his dinner. But not many, not enough. Kaede had probably felt that same oily reek of Naraku in her old bones and sent everyone else to bed early. 

'Course, with his luck lately, chances were just as good that everyone else was dead.

But what _really _made the skin on his neck twitch was the lack of any demonic aura. Usually there were at least one or two minor youkai flitting about, but right now he couldn't feel anything. That meant that, one, Naraku was near, and any self-respecting demon had high-tailed it, or, two, Naraku was near, and he had absorbed 'em. Or, three, those shikigami had disrupted all the other youkai, too.

And where were Kouga and his two cronies? And Sesshomaru?

He growled softly to himself and watched the sun's angled reflection in the shallow ditches below. The light made the fields orange, and brown, and grey. The trees still held onto a yellow haze. It was peaceful.

But the more the hanyou thought about it, the more tense he became. There might not be any scent on the air, but something about this stank.

He really should send Kagome home.

But he really wanted her here, tonight.

But she'd be safer at home.

But he really, really wanted her here. And not that she would go, anyway, without good reason. Not tonight, new moon and all, and not with Naraku around.

She'd stay. Well, that was one thing settled.

But that meant those rotten paper dolls would be staying, too. Why had she made those stupid shikigami in the first place? His gut told him she was hiding something about that. And why had she pretended to be one, like she didn't want anyone to know she was there? Even after he'd been told she had… _feelings _for him. She had still tucked herself away, like she was trying to avoid him. Maybe it had all been some underhanded joke. But it wasn't like Kagome to be sneaky—at least, not unless she was playing matchmaker.

Huh.

He decided that it would be much easier not to think about it until Kagome and the others caught up. He'd ask her then.

"Inuyasha!"

Or he could ask her now.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Shippo waving at him, hopping ahead of Miroku along a dim curve of the dusty road. Kagome and the others wouldn't be far behind. With one last look at the village, Inuyasha turned and leapt out of the tree.

"What did you see, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked as the hanyou dropped beside him.

Inuyasha shrugged irritably. "I don't like it, but I couldn't tell you why. And I don't sense Sesshomaru or the others."

"Hmm."

"That's weird," Shippo added, unhelpfully.

"I say we just go in," Inuyasha continued. "If Naraku's gonna attack, he's gonna do it after sundown. I'd rather have the place figured out before then."

"Agreed."

Sango and Kirara had come up on the end of the exchange. Kagome, finally arriving with the two shikigami at her side, looked questioningly at Inuyasha. "So what's the plan?"

"First, you're gonna get rid of your little friends."

"_What?"_

"You heard me. Those two are gonna get us in trouble. I can feel it."

"That's no reason to just—just get rid of them!"

"So why'd ya make them in the first place, then? Planning on keeping them around forever?"

"No, but…"

The shikigami, far from being offended, nudged Kagome in the ribs. "Go on, tell him why," one of them urged with a smile. She glowered at it.

"Why _did_ you make the shikigami, Kagome?" Miroku encouraged. Sango remained silent, but her questioning eyes were locked on Kagome. Inuyasha vied between irritation at their presence and gratitude for their persistence.

She waved the question off. "Oh, no reason, really..." Abruptly her gaze tangled with Inuyasha's. He gave her a determined, angry glare. He could smell her anxiety seeping from her skin, but he wasn't going to let it go. She began sputtering, never a good sign.

"Uh, well, I just thought that... well..."

"She probably wanted to leave them here so she could go take her tests," Shippo offered, once again from the safety of Miroku's shoulder.

"Yeah," Kagome agreed weakly, hand in her black hair. "Exactly."

Two pair of exasperated grey-blue eyes glared at the nervous girl.

However, Inuyasha went still. Was she saying…? "You saying you were gonna leave? You were gonna leave _me_ here with _them_, thinking I'd never know the difference?" His voice roughened.

She looked as if she'd stepped into a very deep well. And not the good kind. "No! I-"

"What the _hell_ kind of game are you playing, Kagome? You gonna leave me behind, too, once we beat Naraku? Go back to your _tests?"_ There was an unfamiliar, empty, _gnawing _somewhere underneath his anger. He stalked toward her, nose to nose, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't want your little _chew toys._"

Sango raised an uncertain hand. "Inuyasha--"

His eyes never left Kagome's. "Back off, Sango."

Miroku placed his hand on the slayer's back, his eyes hard on Inuyasha. "We shouldn't keep Kaede waiting. Come, Shippo."

For once the kitsune didn't argue, and Inuyasha was left alone with Kagome and the two apprehensive shikigami.

Inuyasha saw the spark in his miko's eyes. Clenching her fists, she leaned into her anger, refusing to back down. "Listen, Inuyasha, I _wasn't_ going to leave--"

"You just _said _you were! So you've been _thinking_ about it!"

"No I didn't! And I'm not! And even _if_ I did, it's not like you noticed I was even _here_ until now! Why should you notice if I were _gone?"_

"I've known you were here since this morning!"

That seemed to strike a nerve. "Right!" She said, as if she'd just scored some hidden point. Inuyasha tried to recall exactly what he had been arguing, and Kagome took advantage of his confusion. "You knew—and you _shredded_ one of us!" Her voice held that thin string of anxiety, and a thicker cord of hurt. Did she think he'd ever mistake her for a paper doll? Did she think he was _stupid?_

Apparently she did. Inuyasha felt the argument- arguments- slipping from his control. Growling, he beat down his confusion. "I _knew_ it wasn't you, so don't try to change the subject! Now spill it! _If_ you weren't gonna leave, then why--"

"How could you be sure! What if it had been _me_ with Kouga?"

"You, in a lip-lock with that damn wolf?" He was rife with impatience, and decided to cut through both arguments at once. "I trust you, Kagome."

"But if there was a _chance_—"

"I _trust_ you, Kagome. Don't be stupid. Don't you trust me?"

"But…" she trailed off, waving her hands. He wanted to grab them, hold them quiet for a moment. But she still wasn't explaining herself.

His angry confusion melted into a wary curiosity as a thought occurred. Silently, the hanyou raised his hand, two fingers in a tense curve. He cracked his knuckles.

Love remained steady at Kagome's side.

Imp flinched, and retreated a half-step.

Inuyasha flung his hand toward the nervous shikigami. "What the _hell_ was that?"

Kagome, who hadn't moved so much as given a slight twitch and scowl, glanced to the side. "What?"

Inuyasha fought to keep his temper. When he had ripped up that stupid paper doll earlier, he hadn't stopped to think of the consequences. It obviously had affected Kagome to see him attack her, even if it wasn't _her_. He'd shaken her. Any show of the churning in his gut now would surely send her into a tiny little high-pitched, _osuwari-_ing shell, and then where would he be, besides face-deep in dirt? How the hell was he supposed to fix _this?_

Inuyasha, at a loss, did what he did best.

He swore.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for sticking with this.

Disclaimer: _Inuyasha_'s not mine. Never was, never will be. But that doesn't stop me from messing with his head.

* * *

The sun was sulking just above the horizon. So was Inuyasha, crouched high in a pine. 

He had _almost _had Kagome admitting why she had made those--- _things._ One of _those things_ had actually come out and told him how Kagome _felt._

And, with one moment of red-tinged fury, he'd shredded whatever-- _whatever _that Kagome felt for him.

He was furious. Mostly at himself. He didn't know what to do. He knew what he _wanted _to do-- he wanted to kiss the woman senseless until she forgot about the stupid, _stupid _thing he'd done. _All_ the stupid things he'd done, actually.

Crouched high on a limb, he methodically flicked chips of rough bark into the abyss below. As they flashed in and out of beams of orange sunlight, Inuyasha replayed the shikigami's fearful expression. All he'd done was flex his fingers at her and-- well. He couldn't remember Kagome _ever_ looking at him with eyes that… that _flinched._

He'd frightened her. You couldn't have _feelings_ for someone you were frightened of. He didn't know what to do to fix it. But he had to do _something._

Hence, Inuyasha was systematically pruning the very branch that supported him.

Unfortunately, Miroku had found the same tree.

"… going to help, Inuyasha. You might as well come down and discuss the situation."

With every word the monk spoke, the upper branches became more and more inviting. When Miroku said _discuss, _what he really meant was _let me repeatedly bash you over the head with. _ Inuyasha stared up into the darkening pine, letting the monk's cajoling words flow over him and float up into the deep pockets of cool green and burnished copper. If he could get a bit higher… but who was he kidding? Jerking his hand through his hair-- and discovering his previous whittling had coated his claws with sap-- he finally glared down at his friend. There wasn't a tree high enough to avoid _his_ nose. With a resigned, impatient sigh, he stepped off the mutilated limb. Not bothering to slow his descent, he landed heavily in front of the monk, knees and back bent, fingertips splayed across the loam.

Inuyasha straightened and belatedly spotted a shock of orange hair clinging to the indigo robe-- Shippo had tagged along. Of course. The kitsune was as bad as the monk when it came to minding everyone else's business. He shut his eyes, folded his arms, tucked his chin to his chest, and waited for it.

"We left you with _three_ lovely young ladies, and you drove them _all_ away?"

Inuyasha looked up at the monk. "You ain't right," he said flatly.

"Neither, apparently, are you."

Shippo leaned precariously over the monk's shoulder, which didn't stop the kit from looking immensely superior. "Yeah, Inuyasha, you were supposed to make up and kiss Kagome. It _is _your turn, after all."

Inuyasha jerked backwards. "Wha? Says who?"

"We _all_ talked about it.. Only an idiot would miss how she--" Shippo's mouth was abruptly blocked by a bead-wrapped hand. Inuyasha, torn between wishing the hand wasn't there and wishing that the hand was, in fact, a fist, shoved his own hands up his sleeves and turned his back on the two. He oughtta just whack the kid on the head, but the kitsune was sticking too close to Miroku. Plus, he was cutting back on that sort of thing, for Kagome's sake.

Kagome again.

"I should'a just sent her home," he muttered. "She probably wants to go, anyway." Shippo's nasty little gossip-feeding ears heard him, and the kid pushed Miroku's hand down.

"She _should _go home. She'd be safer there. Tonight, for sure. You _know_ you're not--" Miroku's hand shot back up.

Inuyasha, ears swiveled backwards, heard the monk suck in a deep breath through his nose. He held it for a good four seconds before he released it and said, with strained patience, "Inuyasha. I'd suggest you speak with Kagome as soon as possible." Overriding the hanyou's dismissive grunt, Miroku continued, "None of us are certain what may take place tonight. That is why you _must_ decide how you feel about Kagome, and act on it. Or you may end up regretting things left unsaid more than--"

Inuyasha spun on him, talon pointing directly at Miroku's utterly composed nose. "_You're_ one to talk! What about Sango? It's not like you've married _her, _or anything! She's off looking for Kohaku and you just can't resist the opportunity to shove your hypocritical advice down my throat!"

The sanctimonious monk drew himself stiffly upright, affronted. "Sango and I have an… understanding."

Inuyasha closed his eyes and tilted his head away from the errant matchmaker. "You know, Miroku," he said, his voice laced with disgust, "Sango could snap off your head like a praying mantis."

"And should," Shippo added, primly.

"We're not discussing the good Sango or myself--"

Shippo hopped off Miroku's shoulder and turned his back on the proceedings, much like a miniature Inuyasha from a moment ago. "Forget it, Miroku. He doesn't deserve her."

Miroku, however, remained firmly planted in front of the defensive hanyou. "Kagome does love you, whether or not you deserve it, Inuyasha."

"Yeah, but what if she _stops? _What if she _leaves?"_

"She won't."

"You didn't see the look she gave me. It was… bad."

"Figuratively speaking, Kagome has never left your side, Inuyasha. She's not about to begin now."

"Poor Kagome." Shippo earned himself a half-hearted thump, and glared with muted resentment at Inuyasha. Both human and hanyou ignored him.

Miroku half-turned from Inuyasha, pensively watching the sinking sun. "And remember, the shikigami are only incomplete aspects. Kagome is Kagome."

Inuyasha thought that over, then tensed, staring at the ground. "Then when the one said what she said about… uh, _us, _she could've been wrong."

Shippo shifted from rubbing his head to clutching it, shaking it from side to side. "Inuyasha, you think too much. It's not right."

Miroku sighed, slumping his staff over already weary shoulders. "Especially in your case."

The kit folded his arms. "You might as well give up, Miroku. Inuyasha is under the delusion he knows what he's talking about. Kagome should just give up on him, too."

"Kagome hasn't given up on anything in her life," Miroku said absently, studying the hanyou. One finger tapped rhythmically against the staff, sending the rings plinking tinnily in the evening air. Almost, Inuyasha thought uncomfortably under the monk's gaze, as if he was trying to find a weak spot. An ominous cloud. An unguarded Sango.

_Plink. Plink. Plink._

It was really pissing him off.

"Yeah, well, neither have I," the hanyou spat at the monk. It was time to end this. The sun had nearly touched the horizon.

"Exactly."

"Huh?"

"He's hopeless," Shippo muttered to no one in particular.

Miroku bowed his head for a moment, eyes closed, and mumbled, "Forgive me, Kagome." Then monk sighed, a resigned tilt to his shoulders, and brushed small golden flecks of pine off his indigo robe. _Finally, _thought Inuyasha. Now they could get on with more important things than his _feelings. _Like Naraku. Or when his half-brother and the wolf were going to show. He'd rather not think about all this, anyway. Ignoring stuff like this had served him well enough in the past, hadn't it? Inuyasha was already moving, sniffing the air, when Miroku blindsided him with a quiet, rhetorical, "So why, if she loves you-- or, as you believe, doesn't love you-- why won't she tell you? That seems rather… insulting."

Inuyasha blinked, then shrugged. "Feh."

"Don't you think she owes you at _least_ a straight answer?"

Inuyasha started down the hill to the village, half-dismissing Miroku's suggestion. Which meant he was half-accepting it. He scowled as certain events, certain _emotional_ events, took on a darker cast. One of Kagome's shikigami had said she loved him. But the other had, _hah,_ with that _wolf, _no less. He realized abruptly his ears were folded back, and he quickly flicked them up again.

Shippo, who had bounced ahead, stopped short and looked intently back at the monk. Suddenly the little fox demon looked entirely too casual as he shook his head, "You think she'd respect you more than _that_."

"Of course she respects me!"

"Of course. That's why she's practically got you chasing your tail." Shippo rolled his green eyes, flicking his own fat tail as the others came abreast.

"Hey!" Inuyasha swiped at the kit, who danced out of reach.

"After all you've done for her," the monk said, voice heavy with resigned sympathy. "Protecting her. Caring for her when she was ill."

"But..."

"And all the times she's sat you," Shippo observed. "You didn't deserve _some_ of them."

Inuyasha slowed, then stopped, looking over the village without seeing it. "I guess so…"

"And you've saved her life more times than I can count," Miroku continued thoughtfully, jingling as he turned toward the sun hovering over the bronzed fields. "All those bandages, all that blood. Women may be fickle, but that should make up for a little ripped paper, at least."

"Yeah…"

"Ate curry for her," Shippo added. His nose wrinkled. "I still haven't heard the end of that."

"Offered comfort after she thought you were dead--" Miroku shook his head.

"And she _sat_ me!"

"--rescued her friends, her brother, even Kouga--"

"And she _sat me!" _

"Let Kouga beat you up!" Shippo pointed out, rather gleefully.

"Yeah! Hey, he didn't--"

"Your loyalty has been unmatched. You would have _died_ for her, Inuyasha. You've proven that. So why she won't resolve what the shikigami have begun--" The monk, shrugging, left the thought dangling in the air, tantalizing, frustrating. "Still, what the shikigami have revealed about our Kagome is nothing short of fascinating, isn't it? The insights--"

"The groping--" Shippo tossed in, eyes sly under his hair.

Inuyasha's eyes went flat.

"True," the monk said with a sigh. "And," Miroku waved his hand dismissively, "speaking of groping, there was that--"

Inuyasha's brows shot down.

Miroku hesitated, as if searching for the right word. His airily waving hand paused, fingers snapping. "Kiss." He looked askance at his friend. "How very awkward for you."

The hanyou stood rigid, staring into the burnt sunlight. His breathing was heavy, shoulders thrust forward.

With the air of tilting someone gently off a cliff, the monk murmured, "Pity."

Inuyasha clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. "She's gonna give me an answer, dammit, or else!" he snarled, and launched himself violently into motion.

The hanyou bounded away, red and white. Miroku and Shippo stood, surrounded by a cloud of smug satisfaction and the occasional gnat, as their friend hurdled toward the quiet village.

"Miroku, Kagome's gonna beat you apart for that," Shippo said, offhand.

"Not if things go according to plan."

"And if she doesn't, then Sango will."

"Yes. Yes, that's probably true."

"But _I _think you did a good job."

"Thank you. Inuyasha has always acted on his anger. I simply used that against him. Or for him, depending on the point of view."

"Well, he's used to being angry. He's not used to feeling all mushy and stuff, that's for sure." Shippo hesitated as they walked back to the dusty path. "'Or else' what, do you think, Miroku?"

Miroku began scanning the sky for a certain nekomata as he answered, eyes wry, "Do you really think Kagome will put up with an 'or else'?"

Shippo snickered.

* * *

Kagome stood in the cooling sunlight, anxiously chewing on her nail, wondering what was holding Inuyasha up. He'd stalked off without so much as a grunt. Although, given the fact that not only did he have Imp's confession of love to deal with, but another of her shikigami had kissed Kouga, and also given the fact that he had just ripped her likeness into pieces-- little, teeny-tiny pieces-- she wasn't too keen on seeing him. 

But she really wanted to see him.

She supposed she just didn't want him to see her.

Which didn't make any sense. But there she was.

So she stood just on the edge of the village, staring up the dusty path, absently worrying her fingernail to a nub.

Her two remaining shikigami, however, were deep in discussion, entirely ignoring their creator's distress. Imp was repeatedly making angry swooshing motions with one hand, while Love, with her large, liquid eyes, was shaking her head in firm denial. As they took a tense pause to glare at each other, Kagome distracted herself from both her hangnail and her hanyou.

"What _are_ you two arguing about?"

Love didn't even bother to look at her. "Well, _you're_ torn in two--"

"Don't say torn," Imp snapped.

"Fine. Of two minds, then. Therefore, so are we."

"Huh?"

Love shook her head in exasperation. "Imp thinks Inuyasha shredded Lust out of anger and jealousy. I think he did it out of love."

Kagome's eyes widened. "Love?"

Imp huffed. "Love? He killed Lust! What if it had been _her_? What kind of guy does that to someone he _loves?"_

Kagome made absolutely no move to defend Inuyasha. She wanted to. But she didn't. She simply looked at Love with all the tangled anger and worry and, well, _whatever_ that she felt for the hanyou.

Love looked at her creator with raised brows. "You too?" Her eyes cleared. "Of course you too. If you weren't feeling this way, neither would she." Love zeroed in on Kagome with startling focus. "It's not Imp I should be convincing. It's _you._"

"Convince me of what?"

"Inuyasha knew Lust wasn't you."

"But how could he be sure?" Kagome took a deep, calming breath. "He—" She made a weak swiping motion with her fingers.

Imp nodded emphatically. "Right. What kind of guy does something like that to someone he loves?"

"He did it because he loves you," Love stated firmly, eyes never leaving Kagome.

"Right," Imp repeated, and crossed her arms defiantly, her whole body sarcastic. "When you care enough to shred the very best."

Kagome refused to be distracted by the unsettling fact that she agreed with Imp on anything. Instead, she cocked her head to one side and looked inquiringly at the determined, earnest shikigami. "Explain."

Imp shook her head. "Nothing to explain. His temper is bigger than his heart. Or his brain."

Kagome silenced Imp with a look that said, _I have matches_, then shifted her attention back to Love.

"Inuyasha knew it wasn't you kissing Kouga." Love leaned forward, eyes intense. "And not for any scent, or appearance, or anything other than he knew you wouldn't do something like that." Abruptly her eyes lost their bright burning and she sat back, grinning. "He just _knew_." The shikigami looked expectantly at her creator. "You see?"

"Um, yeah. Well, not really, no. What?"

Imp's head suddenly shot up, back straight, eyes narrowed. "You're saying Inuyasha ripped up Lust, who, although she looked like us, or you, wasn't really us. Or you. What he saw was something one of us would do, but not one of you would do."

Kagome looked at Imp helplessly. Imp shrugged, with _What do you want from me? _on her face. Turning back to Love, the miko repeated, "What?"

Love leaned in again, eyes wide, willing Kagome to understand. "Not only does Inuyasha love you, he _trusts_ you. Didn't you catch that? He _knows _you wouldn't kiss Kouga. This whole thing started because you thought he didn't respect you. Well, you have his _trust_. What higher token of respect could you want?"

Kagome wrapped her arms around her waist in an unconsciously protective gesture, feeling the last vestiges of her anger dissipate. They were right. He did trust her. Maybe it wasn't love, but it was something, wasn't it? Wasn't trust part of love? Of course, the important bit about respect was dead wrong. But no relationship was perfect, right?

But it was _her_ relationship, and she wasn't about to settle for less than perfect.

"Ah, trust and respect. Sounds like love to me." Imp twinkled at her, in a mercurial shift.

"But he _doesn't_ respect me. How can a man who has to rescue me on a semi-regular basis respect me? How can I earn his respect if I can't even take care of myself?" Kagome grumbled.

Love looked at her sharply. "That's the problem, isn't it. It's not him, it's _you." _

Imp trained her eyes back to Kagome. "Ohhh," she breathed, in realization. "We're right."

_Danger! Danger!_ Kagome flashed both palms at the two. "Now, let's not get off the subject--"

"We're _not._" The pair of shikigami set their arms akimbo, heads to sides, watching their creator with considerable intensity. Love narrowed her eyes. "That's right. That _is _why you made us. To prove that you're capable."

"As capable as Kikyo." Imp added with a sage nod.

Kagome knitted her brows. "Listen, I--"

"Yep. That's it all right." The shikigami nodded heads in self-congratulation, then shook them in self-disgust. "She's still worried that he _can't _love her."

Kagome sucked in another breath to argue, and then, when she realized she had nothing to say, released it with an explosive sigh. "Yeah, okay, maybe just a bit--"

"Well, cut it out!" Imp commanded.

"Quit thinking you're not good enough for _him--_" Love urged.

"a man who scratches his ears with his _feet--"_ Imp interjected.

"and remember who you are! You are Kagome Higurashi! You're a time-traveling, Naraku-facing, quick-thinking, stride-taking--"

"homework-doing, test passing, never-bad-hair day having--"

"uncomplaining, kitsune-protecting--"

"long-legged, small-waisted, classic-featured--"

"woman! Hear you roar!"

Kagome looked at them helplessly.

"No, seriously, roar." Imp poked at her. "You've got a lot of repressed frustration. It'd be therapeutic."

Kagome batted the finger away. "I don't have repressed--"

Imp winked at her. "Reconstitute Lust, and I'm sure she'll let you know just how much frustration."

Love shot her cohort a slightly irritated glance. "Not that kind of frustration. She's frustrated with herself."

"I am not!"

"You've always been able to do everything, and it just kills you to know you need him, doesn't it?"

"I don't need him. I'd be just fine without him. It'd just be nice to have some closure--"

Imp looked at Love, eyes clear and shining. "And he needs you to need him to take care of you." Suddenly the shikigami seemed to melt, clasped hands and all. "Oh, he _does_ love us!" She batted her eyes at an early firefly.

"You already know you depend on Inuyasha to take care of you--" Love continued as if the two hadn't spoken.

"I don't need him!" Kagome noticed her voice was hitting the upper registers, and took a deep breath. "I don't." If she didn't need him, then her pride was intact, even if he broke her heart. She wasn't some co-dependent little eye-batter that would crumple to pieces if Inuyasha didn't return her feelings. Or at least that was her theory, and at this point in the situation, it was all she had.

The pair shook their heads at her in mock disappointment, "Oh, Kagome, don't lie to yourself. Ourself."

Imp grinned at her. "Of _course_ you need him. You practically throw yourself at him."

"Name one occasion." Kagome stood tall, arms crossed, and waited.

Clutching her heart, Imp reeled back dramatically, wailing, "Inuyaa-_shaa!" _Brushing her hair back over one ear, she tilted her head. "I mean, you could vary it a bit. Call for Shippo once or twice."

Kagome bristled. "Inuyasha is the most capable--"

"Right. 'Cause Sango didn't nearly wipe the floor with him when you first met," Imp huffed.

"And how many times have you cared for him? Bandaged him? Fed him? Specially cooked treats, lunches, cases and cases of ramen?" Love, ticking off the items on her fingers, began pacing to Kagome's left.

"After all," Imp pointed out smugly, "the way to a hanyou's heart _is_ through his stomach. Sometimes literally." She began pacing to Kagome's right.

Kagome took a half-step back, trying to keep the shikigami from circling her. "So maybe I went a _tiny_ bit overboard on more than one occasion."

"You've shot arrows at Sesshomaru!"

"He was going to kill him--"

"You've bombed tests because he was waiting at home!"

"They weren't finals--"

Imp, popping up over Kagome's shoulder, jabbed a finger at her. "You defended him to Yuki, Ari, and Hitomi--when he wasn't even around."

"Well, that's not technically throwing--"

"But you _did_ throw yourself at him when he was changing into a crazed demon. That whole near-death, kill everyone thing."

"To save our lives!"

Love raised her voice over the exchange. "Fine. Consider this, then." Kagome found herself looking herself squarely in the eye. "Don't you think he's noticed?"

Kagome opened her mouth, then closed it. She stared at them, mute.

After a moment, Love continued, quietly, "No matter what era it is, boys are boys--"

"--and men are men--" Imp interjected, eyes twinkling.

"And there's no way a man would mistake the way you feel."

"Even Inuyasha," the two shikigami nodded in unison. They watched her expectantly.

Kagome was silent for a long moment, her mind alternating between utter blankness and frantic denial. Her stomach felt twitchy. And that meant one thing-- they were right again. And she really, _really_ didn't want them to be.

"Inuyasha," she whispered to herself. She needed him. And he liked it that way.

He just wouldn't admit that he needed her, too.

Something just under her breastbone began to ache like an old bruise. It was quickly displaced by the rising, volcanic burn of womanly fury.

The two shikigami simultaneously smacked fists into palms with a _crack. _"The idiot," they muttered darkly. Imp hinted, with a dangerous gleam in her eye, "Somebody should slap him senseless."

Kagome felt a sudden, electrifying unity with the two shikigami. They glared indignantly at each other, each spine straight with ferocity. The air around them seemed to crackle.

"The guy who _needs_ you obviously knows _exactly_ how you feel, yet he lets you dangle along, day after day…"

"I dangled!_"_

"Gave you encouragement, then slapped you down."

"Yes! Slapped!"

The shikigami looked at each other, eyes flashing. "Look at all the things that _jerk_ has _dared _do for you! The cold nights when he_ cuddled!"_

"Cuddler!"

"And when the jerk brought you his own homemade cure!"

"The entrails!"

"Fought demons and Kouga and _Hojo_, of all people, for you_--"_

"Every time!"

"Followed you through the well! Asked to put his head in your lap!"

"Right!"

"Screamed when he thought moth-man had killed you!"

"Right!"

"_Cried _when he thought you were dead!"

"He _did!_"

"You need him, he needs you, he knows it, and won't admit it!"

"Never!"

"He loves to be needed, and you need him!"

"I do!"

"He loves _you_ to need him!"

"He does!"

"He loves _you!"_

_"He does!"_

"And he won't _tell_ you!"

"He won't! _The jerk!"_

_"Go get him!"_

"RIGHT!"

Kagome flung herself towards the woods, bright green and white against the deepening shadows. Sending her off with a triple '_Banzai,'_ Imp and Love watched her go, twin fires of satisfaction burning low in their eyes. Tucking their skirts modestly under, the two sat in the short grass to await the fireworks. Suddenly frowning, Imp began twirling a strand of hair around her finger, and a small wrinkle appeared between her brows.

"Love," she said, uncertainly, "Is this the wisest course of action? To drive her to homicide?"

"Hanyoucide. And it's the _only_ course of action." The shikigami nodded firmly. "Let's just hope she finds him before she comes to her senses and realized what we did. I'd really rather not find out what life like a paper frog is like."

"Oh, here comes Inuyasha. He looks furious."

The shikigami grinned at the two careening figures, smiles nearly feral. "We're _so _perfect for each other."

* * *

Inuyasha spotted Kagome storming up the hillside. Which suited him just fine. She'd better be ready to spill _everything_ she'd kept back from him. He'd _make_ her tell him how she felt. 

Or else.

Her eyes latched onto his, and they lit up with an unholy blue fire. Somewhere, deep in the back of his head, a small voice offered that maybe he'd better cool off a bit. That maybe Naraku should be higher up on Inuyasha's priority list.

He ignored it.

The two strode up to each other, crushing the grass beneath their feet rather than moving through it. The earthy scent of mashed vegetation surrounded them as, each taking a fighting stance, they jabbed fingers under each other's noses and simultaneously snarled, "_What--"_

They both stopped. Then they started again.

_"You--" _Both recoiled.

Kagome recovered first. "You _jerk!"_

"You _little--"_

And in unison, _"After all I've done for you--"_

_"After all you've done for me--"_

They stopped again. Each squared their feet and shoulders, arms folded. Their eyes remained sizzling at each other, blue-grey and gold. The evening's first insects drifted in between the two, and nearly burst into flame from the tension.

Inuyasha didn't want to be the first to speak. But he just couldn't help it.

At the same moment, Kagome took a deep breath. Together they snapped, "Don't you have something to tell me?"

"Ladies first," Inuyasha spat derisively.

Kagome's tone rose ominously. "What is the deal with your _attitude?" _

Inuyasha steeled himself, ears flat against his head. He didn't have much experience with this kind of stuff, but he figured that confessions of love rarely started out with screeching.

_"My _attitude? What's with _you? _Why can't you just come out and _say_ some--"

_"Me?_ Oh, that's perfect, coming from Mr. One Syllable Wonder--"

"I _told_ you, don't you _ever listen_--"

"-- don't you _dare_ think you can turn this into another petty argument--"

"I _won't! _Just tell the damn truth!"

"About _what?_ This?" Kagome jerked her hand back and forth between them, other hand fisted on her hip. "_This_ is exactly what I'm _sick_ of!"

"That makes _two of us!"_

"I'm _sick_ of--"

Inuyasha felt fear snuff out his anger like a candle, leaving only desperation behind. Kagome was going to say it. She was going to end whatever relationship they didn't have before they even had it. She was going to leave him. Alone.

"Just shut up." Too late, Inuyasha discovered that he didn't want to hear her reject him. Crush him.

Destroy him.

But Kagome was still shouting at him, something about ramen and needing, she needed ramen? He turned away, hands to his ears, but she grabbed his sleeve-- still yelling-- and he turned on her with a painful snarl.

"I said _shut UP!"_

She did. Inuyasha found himself clutching her by the arms, with those wide eyes staring up at him. He'd shaken her out of her anger, and now she was looking at him with _those eyes--_

He dropped his head, but kept his grip. He couldn't look at her. She was going to say it. He knew it.

_I'm leaving you, Inuyasha. _

Desperately he jerked her stiff body into him, meeting her eyes again, staring down at her. He had to say it first. He meant to say it. _Just leave, woman. _Only--

He looked at those eyes. He closed his own, pressing his forehead to hers. She smelled _good_, like earth and sky and _Kagome._ Inuyasha felt her twitch, but he didn't let go.

Not yet. He breathed her in. She should be his. They should be _together._

Somewhere between a growl and a whine, he muttered, "Why can't you just the hell _love_ me, dammit?"

He felt the shock ripple through her frame, and shook her softly back and forth before pulling her fully into his arms.

Burying his nose in her silky hair, he growled, and felt the frustration thrum deep in his own bones. As he sighed out his anger against her neck, Kagome _softened_, eased into him.

She was still _here_. She hadn't rejected him.

"Just _love_ me, woman," he breathed roughly.

An uncertain movement. Small, shaking fingers pressed into his ribs. Inuyasha sucked in his breath--

"There ye are." Kaede's voice echoed up the hillside.

Inuyasha's arms collapsed around empty air. Opening his eyes, he found Kagome just out of reach, flushed, looking everywhere but at him. Slowly he lowered his hands. His brows soon followed.

Kaede, like her voice, bumbled up the hill. "The sun has nearly set. Come inside. I mislike the feel of the air tonight."

Talk about someone who could kill a mood.

Turning halfway up the path, the old hag stumped back down towards her hut.

He made a move toward Kagome, who practically scurried after Kaede.

Oh, _hell_ no. He wasn't playing this little game again. Frustration and elation fought within him, but it wasn't anywhere near a fair fight. Elation won by a landslide.

She hadn't rejected him. Which meant--

Tonight was the new moon, Naraku was sharpening his claws, and the old woman had ruined a nearly perfect moment.

A grin tugged at his mouth as a dangerous spark lit his eyes. He hadn't felt this good in a long time. A long, _long_ time.

* * *

Kagome darted past Kaede, barreling through Imp and Love. They tried to stop her as she pushed her way into the hut, but they were pulled along by the force of her passing, half-falling through the doorway. Once inside, Kagome stood, staring around the single room, completely at a loss. She had a shikigami clutching each elbow. 

Inuyasha had held her.

_Held_ her.

And she'd been waiting for it for so long that she had absolutely fallen apart. In her mind, the thousands of Inuyasha scenarios had never gone so awry. And she'd been very imaginative; he'd declared his love in sickness, in health, in the future, in the past, even one or two scripts where he'd been dead and her love had brought him back. But never one where he'd yelled at her, then demanded _she_ love _him. _Not to mention Kaede's absolute lack of timing. Kagome was completely off-balance.

She'd run like a schoolgirl.

Trying to settle her scattered thoughts, she stared down at her green skirt in bewilderment. "What do I do now?" she asked it plaintively.

_Wash me._

"Fat lot of help you are," she muttered. She could still feel his arms around her, his breath on her neck. Her skin missed the warmth, but her mind firmly told her that her skin felt no such thing. A bald-faced liar, her skin. She released a shaky lungful of air.

"What was that?" Love asked. She released her creator's elbow and tried unsuccessfully to catch her eye.

"Nothing," Kagome sighed, running her free hand through her hair.

Imp, however, used Kagome's other elbow to whirl them face-to-face. "No, we mean what was _that? _It looked like things were going _swimmingly_ and then you take off like the hounds of hell are after you--"

Kaede, with a practiced wrist, twitched the mat that served as a door aside. "Did I interrupt ye and yon hanyou?" she asked mildly. The three started guiltily, then shook their heads in unison. Imp reluctantly dropped Kagome's arm.

"Your creations gave me quite a turn when they came through the well, Kagome. I believe your skills change every day." Then she grumbled, "Although I'm unsure in which direction." Walking to the fire, the old woman swung her iron pot of something away from the heat, then used a rag to lift the lid, wreathing her lined face in steam. "Are ye hungry?"

"Yes, please, Kaede-baba," Kagome said politely, struggling for inner peace. Normal. She needed to act normal. Eating was normal, wasn't it? She sank onto the tatami furthest from the door. Sitting was normal, too, right? Her shikigami stood where she had left them, one uncertain, one frustrated. Her eyes flicked from their accusing gaze to the doorway.

Kaede handed her a wooden bowl of rice and millet as Inuyasha flung the mat aside, eyes hunting for hers. Kagome quickly tipped the bowl up in front of her face, shielding her eyes from the intensity of his. The drawback to the bowl defense, though, was that Kagome couldn't see Inuyasha either. She heard someone moving closer to her, as well as the soft footfalls of the shikigami.

_Aw, crap._

_

* * *

_

Inuyasha shrugged at Kaede as the old woman glanced questioningly from Kagome, who had stuffed her face into her bowl, to him. It's not like he could explain anything. He didn't think he could if he wanted to. He was just so focused on Kagome, and this bubble of lightening in his chest, and _Kagome_, that he couldn't think about anything but his future woman--

Miss Bowl-face.

Was she embarrassed? Nervous? If he sat next to her, would she sit him? Kiss him? Probably sit him.

Kaede cleared her throat. "Are ye hungry, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha kept his eyes on Kagome. "Nah." What if he just grabbed her? Hauled her out where they could talk, and maybe do other interesting things? Yeah, she'd definitely sit him.

Kaede huffed and turned back to the fire as Imp and Love moved quietly past the hanyou and stood to the side of Kagome, out of her line of sight and directly in his. Catching his eyes, they waved their hands in Kagome's general direction.

He scowled at them. Yes. Kagome was right there. With her head stuck in a bowl. He knew that.

One of them-- Imp-- rolled her eyes and began talking, but no sound was coming out. They were trying to tell him something. Something about Kagome. He squinted at them. They formed exaggerated, silent words with their pink mouths, which only distracted him as he thought about Kagome's mouth, which was just moments from his mouth. Stupid bowl.

Love finally sat down, tugging on the other's skirt to get her attention. Shaking his head to clear it, he squinted harder, cocking his head to one side. Imp had tucked her hands up through her hair on either side of her head, four fingers upright, thumb to palm. She sat slowly down next to Love, who held an imaginary bowl in front of her face, in a perfect imitation of Kagome. Imp twitched her fingertips, glaring at him.

He slowly sat next to Kagome.

Imp scooted closer to Love.

Inuyasha scooted closer to Kagome. She didn't seem to notice, although her chopsticks began moving double-time.

Imp stretched both arms over her head, apparently innocent, eyes sliding sideways to Love.

Inuyasha did the same. A good move, this.

Kagome froze, a scoop of millet hanging near her mouth. Her pink, slightly parted mouth.

Inuyasha looked desperately over at the two shikigami, who apparently were debating what to do next. Great. No help there. He kept his arms up and glanced sideways at Kagome. She looked like she was ready to bolt, bowl and all.

Aw, screw it. He'd do this his way.

Keeping his eyes on Kaede and the fire, he swung one arm around her waist and hauled her to his side. Bending his face toward her hair, he whispered furiously, "Don't you even _think_ about running again."

She sucked in the clump of millet, which lodged in the back of her throat, throwing her into a violent coughing fit. Thumping her on the back, Inuyasha wasn't sure if this was a good sign or not. It wasn't exactly romantic, but it worked for him.

Kagome began to breathe again, and Inuyasha wondered if the pink in her cheeks was from his words or the sudden asphyxiation. He frowned when she kept her face down, staring into her bowl, her hair forming a curtain. He wrapped his arm around her waist again. She jumped.

"Just shut up and let me hold you, okay?" The soft, coaxing note in his rough words even surprised Inuyasha.

A small _eep_ echoed in the bowl. He could feel her heart beating against her ribs, against his ribs. Yeah, it _definitely_ worked for him.

He looked over at the shikigami. Love was practically melting, while Imp was trying to catch flies with her jaw.

For about thirty seconds, his life was complete and utter bliss.

Then Kaede turned back from the fire and lowered herself easily to her tatami. "Now, tell me, have ye kept the final shard safe?"

His ear flicked, of it's own accord, toward the old miko. His eyes followed his ear, frowning at the at the old woman as Kagome, her bowl still obscuring her face, nodded. A nasty, suspicious idea crept to the edge of his awareness, and suddenly splayed shamelessly.

_Lowered herself easily._

Reluctantly releasing Kagome, he shoved himself to his feet, snarling at the old miko. "Get up."

She looked at him calmly. "What ails ye now, Inuyasha?"

"I said, _get up!"_

Kaede rose smoothly, eye closed with tolerant exasperation. "What _is_ the matter with ye, pup?"

Kagome lowered her bowl and looked between the two. "Inuyasha, what--"

"Go find Miroku and Sango," he cut in. Love immediately scrambled out the door, while Imp looked wildly about the hut, then lunged for the ladle, clutching it like a baseball bat.

The room suddenly seemed darker, colder, and his ears itched at the side of his head. He felt a pulse of weakness wash over him, turning his stomach. Sunset.

Inuyasha had the battered Tetsusaiga pointed at the old miko-- her form, anyway-- his eyes burning under his black hair. "How're your joints, _old woman?"_

She snorted. "Are ye so addled that I too am suspect?" The thing-- not Kaede-- went quickly from aggrieved to irritated. "If my bones does not pop to your satisfaction, perhaps your head will."

And then it erupted.

* * *

Kagome, in her travels, had seen many youkai. She'd seen everything from Mistress Centipede to Hakudoshi, from Goshinki to Ginka and Kinka. She'd seen a dismembered leg with teeth hop after Kouga, and she'd seen a blob of guts reform into a baby. She'd even seen a gay zombie make a pass at Inuyasha. 

This horror made them look like guests of honor at a Toyota management seminar.


End file.
